Slender
by Charlie-the-Spider
Summary: Summary: Thirteen year old Nico finds himself lost amongst a dark forest, containing a fearful and sinister creature that will eventually drive him mad with insanity. Is it all just a dream? Or has a nightmare finally taken control over his life?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, how are you? Here's my new fanfiction, Slender, which is based on the actual PC game, Slender, and the myth of Slenderman. Of course, those of you who have played the game know the drill kind of, those of you who haven't, just watch a playthrough, that's so much easier to do. :P Anyway, first of all I'd like to say that, I know in the game the chase ended in the same night, I'm not an idiot, but I decided to make it longer here. Much longer. So bear with me alright? Second of all, those of you who have read 'The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon' by Stephen King might find some similarities in some situations here. I don't mean for it to happen, but Stephen King is my master, I learn a lot from him when it comes to stories like this one.**

**Anyway, the characters are shown as Nico and Percy. Please note that that doesn't mean it's romance. It has that, possible romance, suspicious romance, but all in all, the characters are too young to have that kind of thing going on, so think of them as really close friends.**

**Um, I don't want to make this long for you guys so, don't hate me because this is a mean fanfiction, I hope you enjoy, and review please!**

**Summary: Thirteen year old Nico finds himself lost amongst a dark forest, containing a fearful and sinister creature that will eventually drive him mad with insanity. Is it all just a dream? Or has a nightmare finally taken control over his life?**

******Disclaimer: I do not own Nico di Angelo or any of the PJO characters, neither do I own Slenderman or the PC game Slender, I do own Ms. Tamara and the school kids though.**

**Rash Choices, Bad Consequences**

Nico sighed as he looked out the window of the school bus. He was the first to board because, unlike the other kids, he was actually _punctual_. He actually found this field trip really stupid; Knowing his classmates, they were all just going to start some big forest fire then come back completely humiliated, still, his teacher insisted that they all go camping together because nature was _so beautiful!_

Groaning at the memory, he let his head fall back on the chair and closed his eyes, starting to drift into the first stages of sleep, where various parts of everyday-scenes pass by and mix randomly until you can't really make sense of any of it, before something grabbed his hair and pulled it painfully.

His eyes flying open, his first instinct was to scream but he stopped himself, knowing that it was what Chris wanted. Chris was the bully in school, well, he was the _popular _ bully in school, and for some reason, Nico had been his favourite punching bag for about two years.

A grunt escaped Nico's lips as he tried to pull away –with no luck- gaining a smug smirk from Chris,

"Little baby Nico want to cry? All the girls are watching, Nico, why don't you fight like a man?" He teased and Nico growled, trying again to push him off but instead ended up sprawled across the aisle in the bus, with all the girls giggling and all the boys laughing at him.

Nico could see Chris lifting a heavy bag from the corner of his eye, trying to scramble up and escape but it was too late, and the bag landed on his back, making him clench his teeth and hiss in pain, his eyes stinging with unshed tears.

"What is going on in here?!" Came Ms. Tamara's voice, breaking through all the voices so that it was the loudest, making all the kids in the bus grow silent.

"Chris, what in the world do you think you're doing?" She asked as she climbed into the bus,

"He started it," Ivan, Chris's tag-along number 1 stated. Ivan was your typical bully-tag-along. He was always at Chris's side, and had a big build, huge by their age's standards. He seemed to lumber more than walk normally, though from heavy weight or muscles, Nico didn't know.

"Don't you give me that, Ivan, I know Nico had nothing to do with this. Now help him up or I'm sending both of you home, I don't want fights on this trip," she said and Jack, Chris's tag-along number 2 kicked the bag off Nico's back before pulling him up strongly. At first glance, Jack looked weak,; he was tall, thin, and had this dazed look on his face most of the day, but when you truly tested his power, he was strong, like, dead strong. Nico didn't really think Jack belonged with those two , he had some good in him. Jack gave Nico a shove; scratch that, maybe he was just a jackass like them.

"Nico, dear, are you alright?" Ms. Tamara asked, resting a hand on his shoulder and he nodded, walking back to where his seat was, finding two girls in it.

"That's my seat," He stated, voice dead and emotionless like it always in school.

"Not anymore, dumbass. Go somewhere else," One of them glared and they both giggled as he sighed and grabbed his backpack, going to the front seat beside the driver. Those girls were also from the popular ones, and despite the fact that they looked dumb and weak –and they _were_ dumb- they were worse bullies than the guys sometimes.

Sighing in exasperation, Nico pulled out a thick book and sunk back into the seat, opening where he last bookmarked and returned to reading. It was 'The Green Mile' by Stephen King,. His mother and sister had disapproved him reading things by Stephen King, saying he was too mature and dark for his age, but he ignored their protests and read his books anyway. Of course they still didn't like how he always searched for the darker books, but they kept quiet, and for that he was thankful.

Nico carried on reading for some time, then stopped as he found that the words were starting to get jumbled and he started to forget details thanks to all the noise in the bus. Sighing inwardly, he closed the book and put it back in his backpack, pulling out a comic that was given to him by his best and only friend.

Percy Jackson.

Nico's lips twitched at the edges, fighting off a smile as he thought about the boy. He really didn't plan for it to happen, their friendship. It just sort of did. At the beginning he'd hated the boy to the very core, not because he was annoying –although he was on his best days- but because he could make Nico feel happy, and he'd felt afraid of that, it made him feel violated.

Either way, the two became close friends in a short period of time, although they were in different schools, they both made sure to come back home at the same time and finish their homework as quick as possible before going to hang out somewhere. What intrigued Nico the most was how a boy like Percy could possible understand him so much; while he was all doom and gloom, Percy was your typical happy-go-lucky always-optimistic guy, but maybe that's why they were friends, they balanced each other out.

Nico skimmed through the pages without really looking, smiling softly before sighing for the millionth time that day, "I'll read it later," he muttered to himself as he re-packed it, resting his head on the window before his smile wore off; he hated his mother for sending him to this field trip. He'd given her all the obvious signs that he did _not_ want to go and yet she still made him go. If only she'd let him stay, he'd be playing video games with Percy instead of wasting time here in some isolated place with the most retarded people on earth: his classmates. And it wasn't even a one day thing- no, it was for two days and two nights, much to his distaste. If only he could figure out a way to get back home, but according to the teacher they were going to a clearing with only a forest nearby, so there were no actual connections to the world. According to her, that was supposed to help them become one with nature and calm their senses, according to Nico it was all a load of crap.

"Nico?" His teacher asked and he snapped out of it, turning his head to look at her,

"Yes, Ms. Tamara?" He asked, trying to sound as neutral as possible- she tended to think he was depressed.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," She began, "Do you feel that you are doing well in school, dear?" She asked with concern in her voice and Nico fought off the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yes Ms. Tamara I'm doing just fine, all my grades are okay," He answered and watched her smile gently.

"No dear, I mean with the other kids, do you have any idea why you are treated like that by them?" She asked softly,

"Because they have no lives?" He guessed sarcastically, earning a small laugh from the teacher.

"No," she chuckled as she shook her head, "I think it's because you give off this hostile air. I know you're a nice person, Nico, so why do you act like that with them?" She asked and he sighed,

"I don't act in any way with them, I leave them alone and they're just too dumb to get the signs," He said, then quickly changed the subject, "Ms. Tamara when are we getting to the place? I'm starting to feel sore," he lied easily, he truly just wanted to try and find his way away from them and back home.

"Oh, we'll be there in a few minutes dear, don't worry," She smiled that overly sweet smile of hers and Nico grimaced back, turning away from her and back to the window, hoping she got it and stopped talking. She did get it.

After a few minutes, the old bus lurched into a stop and almost all the kids stood up at once, filing out one after the other while chatting loudly. Opting to stay last, Nico remained seated until they all filed out and were a little bit ahead before following, sighing and praying to any god out there willing to listen to him to rid him of those people as soon as possible.

As they got to their final destination, Nico started setting up his tent with two other kids he couldn't even remember seeing in class, frowning deeply as he started at two pieces that wouldn't get attached. Groaning in frustration, he threw them away, one of them hitting the bases they just built and knocking them all to the ground, making the other two kids groan,

"Dude! What's your problem?!" One of them asked angrily,

"I'm sorry I wasn't looking.." Nico muttered back, not feeling _that_ bad but it did take them twenty minutes to set the bases up.

Shaking their heads, the other two muttered something to each other before looking up at Nico,

"We got this, why don't you go somewhere else and see if you can help out with something?" They were kicking him out before the tent was even set up. Sweet. Shrugging, Nico muttered an apology and walked away, opting to _not_ go looking for something to do and instead headed to the forest. The teacher told them to not wander there alone, but it was still day and he wasn't going to explore the depths or anything, he just wanted to check out the edges then come back. No harm in that, right?

Setting off to the forest, Nico hummed in a low tone before stopping suddenly, remembering he forgot his bag. "Dammit…" He muttered, looking back on camp. If he went back, the teacher might notice and not allow him to leave, but if he left it the other kids would probably go through his personal stuff.

Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought Nobody would remember what his bag looked like anyway, nobody cared, he was safe. Setting off again, he soon found himself finding the trail into the forest, and kept going, looking around him at the many trees before looking up, he could barely see their tops. There were so many, the light was almost blocked off from the ground, except for some of it passing, making the place seem more gray than bright. Losing himself in the midst of things, Nico kept on walking around, touching barks and noting stones, going from one tree to another to examine each texture before sinking down to the earth to measure the tall grass.

Nico spent an hour, maybe more, walking around the forest, before he remembered that he had to get back before they noticed he was gone. Turning around and starting to head back, Nico's eyes still roamed around the place, wide with awe but also shaken with some uneasiness, before he started to slow then came to a full stop, looking straight ahead.

He could not see camp.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay Chapter two is linked to chapter one in the same update, so I don't have much to say except that I'm sorry this one is shorter. I don't want it to be too long because I don't want to reveal too much. Later chapters will be longer, you'll know why then, but for now this is chapter two. I really hope you guys like this, and review it, because I truly enjoy writing this story.**

**Anyway, I need to go to sleep now because I'm practically falling asleep on the keyboard, so go ahead, read, and let me know what you think!**

**Summary: ****Thirteen year old Nico finds himself lost amongst a dark forest, containing a fearful and sinister creature that will eventually drive him mad with insanity. Is it all just a dream? Or has a nightmare finally taken control over his life?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nico di Angelo or any of the PJO characters, neither do I own Slenderman or the PC game Slender, I do own Ms. Tamara and the school kids though.**

**Chapter Two**

Frowning, Nico looked around him, trying to figure out why he couldn't see camp. He couldn't have wandered off that far, could he? The trees still looked the same. Trying to hold back the panicked feeling, he assured himself that it was probably just hidden behind a tree and started making his way back, looking at all the trees. He remembered seeing them, they didn't look any different from the ones he'd seen a while ago, so how could he have wandered off?

Remembering that he had to focus on the task of getting out, he walked faster, trying to keep his stride straight so he wouldn't end up getting more lost, but to no avail.

Camp was still not there.

Unable to shake off the panicked feeling that was starting to form in him, Nico counted to ten to try to calm down, knowing it as a method his mom taught him that shook off stress and anxiety, with no such luck. He stood still, taking a long breath, holding it, then getting it out. Inhale, Exhale, Inhale, Exhale, again and again, but he still felt shaken.

Looking around now, he no longer thought the forest was beautiful. It was scary, it was the kind of forest you got lost in and never found your way out.

Panicking more, he started walking in a different direction, determined on finding his way out. Besides, he thought to himself, the teacher's probably noticed by now, she's probably already called the police and they were on their way to take me home.

Nodding to reassure himself, Nico sung softly, opting to take his mind off of how creepy the forest looked and instead just walked further, again trying to keep a straight line, but his anxiety still remained, and camp still didn't appear.

Nico sighed shakily. He figured he should stick to one place so they would find him, that was what smart people did, right? Nodding again to himself, he sat down on the grassy ground, resting his back on the tree and waited, then waited some more, but nothing came, not even the slightest bit of wind.

His chest starting to tighten, Nico sung a little louder, suddenly needing to hear anyone, anything, but the waver in his voice made him stop abruptly.

He sounded afraid.

Tearing up, Nico shook off any doubt; of course they wouldn't just leave him there, it was just a big forest and it took time to find people there. Nico wiped his tears and pulled his knees to his chest, starting to count from one, hoping they'd find him before he reached one hundred.

* * *

"Alright kids gather round please!" Ms. Tamara called out to the kids as all the things that were needed for camp were finally set up. It took them some time, but eventually all the kids gathered around the teacher, a soft, annoying buzz still coming from them as they all continued to talk to each other.

Sighing, she clapped her hands, "Guys please listen, just for a second!" She raised her voice above theirs and they all quieted down enough for her to talk, "Okay so, we've finished setting up camp, but apparently there might be some rainfall today so we need to pack back up and head out to a farm a mile or two away." She finished and rolled her eyes as all the kids groaned,

"I know, I know, but would you prefer getting wet and sick? Yea, didn't think so." She smirked, "Now get on with it!"

Ms. Tamara watched the kids work, helping a few in packing up their tents properly since apparently they didn't know how to fold a tent. It was quite ridiculous, kids their age unable to figure out how to fold a tent, it completely frustrated her.

"Ms. Tamara, David and I can't figure out how to take off the bases, can you help us?" A boy named Aaron asked and she sighed,

"Oh alright, but you're the last ones I'm helping is that clear?" She asked and he nodded before walking back to his respective tent, the teacher following him.

Ms. Tamara sighed and asked the two kids to help her stabilize the tent as she took out a few bars before deflating and packing it up neatly, looking up she smiled at the two,

"There, better?" She asked and they both nodded,

"Thank you teach," David said making her smile warmly,

"You're welcome dear, now didn't you have Nico with you?" She asked, now noticing that she hadn't seen him in quite a while,

"Yeah we told him to go help some other people because he ruined the tent," Aaron explained and the teacher nodded in understanding, sending them both on their way as she thought a little, trying to remember if she had seen Nico anywhere, but she couldn't. She started to walk then hesitated a little as a little thought came to her then escaped quickly and she shrugged, Nico was just good at fading back in the background,

He couldn't be lost.

* * *

Nico was nearing two hundred and thirty when he stopped, all hope lost now. The sun was slowly sinking down the horizon, and they weren't coming, nobody was coming, they were going to him there, they were going to leave him there to die.

Scared. Alone.

A tear falling, Nico got up hurriedly, hugging his arms weakly as he breathed in short, quick gasps, trying to stop anymore tears from falling. He couldn't cry. Not yet. If he gave up from the beginning he would never get out.

Wiping at his eyes angrily, he started making his way again in what seemed to be a different direction, sniffing every now and then as he looked around with teary eyes, his heart sinking further and further as he noticed how many trees there were, how much they looked alike, and to how far they spread out.

He was never getting out.

Letting out a sob that was kept in, he winced at all the pain and fear in it, and then he couldn't help it, his tears came running down his face of their own accord and his sobs grew louder and louder as his breathing quickened even more, turning in circles in place, his eyes wide with fear.

Picking a random direction –for he no longer could think rationally- he started walking quickly, hoping against hope that he'd find his way out.

But he only found more trees.

Whimpering, he turned and walked faster in another direction, only to find himself surrounded by even more trees. Again and again, he repeated the process, each failed try making him lose a little bit of his common sense before that trait finally snapped.

Letting out a cry of sheer panic, he broke out into a sprint, not caring whether the direction he was running in was east or west, right or wrong; he just wanted to run. He just wanted to escape. He just wanted to go home.

Home.

He moaned in sadness at the thought of home, stumbling and falling to his knees, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed and sobbed; he was never going home. He was never going to sleep in his own bed again. He was never going to play with his dog, Mrs. O'leary again. He was never going to wake up to the smell of his mom's delicious pancakes again. He was never going to see any of them again.

Sobbing louder, Nico lay down, starting to roll around as he cried in pain, loss, and some more pain.

"I wanna go home!" He shouted to the empty forest, "Mama!" He cried out again, his voice carrying out through the dull forest.

As Nico's sobs began to fade, he open his swollen eyes, fear threatening to creep into his chest as he noticed that it was getting dark. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to sleep and hide from wild animals, he couldn't survive the night, it was impossible.

Whimpering, he picked himself up slowly, opting to not give up so easy and go looking for a place, but he tripped and fell again. He cursed to himself as he punched the ground, growling in anger.

A rustle came and he stuck his head straight up in the air, his eyes searching through the many trees surrounding him that now looked even more eerie, but the sound left just as fast as it came, and he could not locate the source.

"Hello?" He asked weakly into the dark, his voice carrying out again, "I-is somebody there? Anybody? Can you help me please?" He asked urgently, getting back up on his feet and turning in quick circles, trying to find the hidden person, but with no success.

"You're starting to hallucinate already, Nico. Focus." He muttered to himself as his shoulders sagged in disappointment. Sighing in exasperation and wiping at his wet face, he started walking; he had to find a place to sleep for the night, till they found him.

As he was walking, a few drops hit his head and he looked up at the sky, squinting to see what that was when a sudden heavy downpour began and he groaned, kicking a tree bark in anger, frustrated at how unfair the world was being that day specifically.

Walking a bit faster, Nico searched urgently with his eyes for something, anything, to shield him from the cold rain as it soaked his clothes and chilled his bones.

His nose and ears were stinging from the cold when tears began to brim in his eyes, fogging up his view as the place grew darker and darker until he could barely see his own hands if he looked at them.

Sighing shakily, Nico hugged himself tightly with his bare arms and stood still, his teeth chattering wildly and his body shivering uncontrollably before he sank down to his knees, hugged a tree, and sat there, waiting for the rain to stop so he'd go search for a suitable place, but despite all his attempts at staying away, his eyes grew heavy, and he drifted out of consciousness, his last thought returning to that jacket he'd left at camp.

How he wished he'd brought it along.

**DAY ONE.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Hey all! Sorry for the very late review, I explained the reason on my other update a couple of days ago but most of you don't even read my other story so, I'll give you a brief summary. I had mid-terms, and a bunch of projects. I tried to write whenever I could but all the thoughts were unorganized so I gave up. I got to write this chapter today and decided to update it now right before I sleep, since I already owe you guys a lot. Anyway, I don't want to make this long because I'm adding an A/N down at the bottom to explain some things. Enjoy for now!**

**Summary: ****Thirteen year old Nico finds himself lost amongst a dark forest, containing a fearful and sinister creature that will eventually drive him mad with insanity. Is it all just a dream? Or has a nightmare finally taken control over his life?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nico di Angelo or any of the PJO characters, neither do I own Slenderman or the PC game Slender, I do own Ms. Tamara and the school kids though.**

**Careful, Nico**

When Nico woke up the next morning, the rain was still falling and the ground was dotted with small white circles.

'Hail,' He thought before coughing softly into his hand, clearing his throat in annoyance, 'Now I'm lost _and_ sick'.

Sighing, he wet his chapped lips with his slightly dry tongue, resting his back against the same tree he'd slept beside the night before as he studied the place. He wasn't sure what time it was, because he'd always refused to get a wristwatch –another thing to regret- but he knew it was morning, so there was that. He sat there for a bit, just studying the place, until his stomach growled in hunger and he sighed, getting up slowly and stretching in his wet clothes, figuring it'd be better to start the search for food right then than when it got too dark like it did the night before.

Nico made his way in a random direction, not really paying attention to anything on his way, not realizing he was going deeper and deeper into the forest and farther and farther away from the exit as he tried to form a plan of action. It was his second day here, and unless this was all some sick joke and they were all aware of his whereabouts, they hadn't found him yet and they weren't going to find him anytime soon. That made his eyes sting with fearful tears a little; Maybe they didn't care. Maybe his parents were relieved, he was a difficult child to manage after all.

'Maybe… maybe nobody has noticed just yet,' Nico thought, faltering slowly. 'Maybe I'm so unimportant at school that they just haven't noticed I'm gone' He stared ahead, turning that thought over and over and over again in his head, thinking so deeply his head began to pound and his forehead creased, his eyes filling up with tears as he considered that possibility. Could the reason really be that he had absolutely no value at school, and that was why nobody had even noticed his absence? Nobody had even said, 'Oh hey, has anybody seen that Emo kid we use for a punching bag'?

Biting his lower lip, he shook his head and resumed walking, much faster than before as he glared down at the freckled ground. He couldn't let those negative thoughts get the best of him like the previous night; he was well aware of the fact that panicking was never an option for a survivor. And that was what he was, Nico decided, a survivor. He was going to get out of this stupid forest, he was going to go home, hug his Mom and then hug his dog and then go to Percy's and laugh all night about stuff that didn't make any sense.

Nico felt a tear run down his cheek as he remembered his friend. He could remember how Percy looked upset about him having to go on this trip, Percy had even looked worried. It was like Percy knew something was going to go wrong, and of course Nico's mother had dismissed it as nothing but them being too close. His Mom never minded how close he was to Percy, but his father was always complaining about it. He wasn't even nice to Percy; he kept on shooting glares at him whenever he came over, which was part of the reason why Nico always went to Percy's and not the other way around. The rest of the reason was that Nico just liked being away from home, it gave him a feeling of independence.

Nico smiled at the irony of that. Here he was, in a big scary forest that gave him all the room for independence and he was already crying about it. Sniffing, he quickly wiped away his tears, getting his face even wetter thanks to his soaked clothes. He knew it wasn't good to stay in wet clothes; he could get very sick very quickly, but he couldn't lose them either, the rain was stopping but it was still pretty cold in the forest. He shivered as he thought about that. When he concentrated, he could almost feel that nothing really lived here. Not even the sun broke through the trees, it was a depressing place. It was a place for certain death.

Shivering again, he brushed off that thought too –he couldn't think about death so early- and finally focused on his path, frowning as he noticed there was some sort of pathway in the middle of the forest. It was like a road, except it wasn't paved. Nico looked back the way he'd come, unsure if he should approach the road since it curved his supposedly straight line into a whole different direction.

Sighing, he guessed that a road wouldn't just exist in the woods for no reason –it probably led to people- and decided to take it, making his way through the grass towards it, his feet landing on crunchy ground, the road was made of small white stones. For decoration? Nico shrugged and looked behind him instinctively before looking back ahead, noting how the road seemed to go on forever.

Taking a deep breath, he took his first step, then second, each time looking at the path he had been walking on earlier, second guessing his decision to leave it before finally gathering up the courage to look away and start moving ahead.

Nico walked and walked, the crunchy sounds coming from under his feet not calming him in the slightest as his eyes kept on roaming the perimeter, waiting, hoping, for something edible to appear. He couldn't help but look behind him every once in a while. He had a ticklish feeling running down his spine, not unlike an itch that wouldn't go no matter how much he scratched, and he was getting very tired of it. In fact, he was getting tired of this whole ordeal, he was tired of having to listen to that never ending crunching under his feet, and he was tired of the deathly still air in the forest, but most of all, he was tired of searching for food that just _wouldn't appear_. He could have been home right now, enjoying a nice warm dinner with his parents, but instead here he was, walking in a forest that he never learnt the actual name of, hungry, cold and afraid.

Nico growled in anger and kicked at the small stones ahead of him, spraying and scattering a few through the air as a quick, almost inaudible rustle came. Nico turned around immediately, searching with wide, calculating eyes as the stones fell again, his heart kicking up as his breathing quickened in fear, before slowly returning to normal as no threats presented themselves. He unconsciously sighed in relief and looked back ahead, moving on again, this time much faster –although Nico never noticed that- before stopping suddenly as he reached a fork in the road, the right side leading up to more road and something that vaguely resembled a tower. Raising an eyebrow at that, Nico turned to the other side, the left side, only to see a big scary tree a few feet into it.

Frowning, he concentrated, raising both of his hands in the air, each at one side, and weighing them as if he were weighing his options. He could go through the vaguer road, the one with the tower-resembling building, or he could go through the emptier road, the one with the big tree. He bit his lips as he felt anxiety creep up into his chest; he couldn't choose. One of them could be his demise and the other his exit, so how could he choose? Then again, both of them could lead back to each other, but no, he couldn't depend on that assumption, even if he knew forests always led back to themselves in the end.

Nico drummed his fingers against his thigh as he looked at both sides again, aware of the fact that he was running out of time, then his eyes landed on something that made his day, even if just for a second.

A berry bush.

He almost couldn't believe it. An actual berry bush in the middle of a dead forest. Nico let out a delighted laugh –that sounded much more hollow than he thought- and scrambled to the bush, picking off one big berry that looked quite juicy. Nico was about to throw it in his mouth when he paused, remembering all the survival fictions he had read so many times. People who acted rashly when it came to food –especially berries- always died of poisoning. Not all plants were edible, he reasoned with himself.

As sense came back to him, he started studying the berries, hoping he could identify whether they were edible or not. He could remember that _long_ boring lesson his grandfather had given him one day at the forest near Nico's house. He'd taught him all kinds of things about berries, from the edible to the poisonous to the deadly, and Nico could also remember he barely paid attention that day. Yet another thing to regret.

But Nico could actually recognize this one. He remembered his grandfather saying that it wasn't the most delicious, nor the healthiest, but it was okay by people's standards. Grinning widely, Nico threw it into his mouth, enjoying the juice that squeezed out as he bit down on it with all his strength. Humming happily, he started picking one after the other, trying to fill his stomach enough to last till the very end of the day.

Delicious, was the only thought in his mind as he dug deeper and deeper into the bush, eating both the mature and the immature of the berries.

Then the rustling returned. Nico froze in his place, his heart almost jumping out of his chest as it quickened almost immediately. His brain quickly caught up with the situation though and he quickly crawled out of the bush, looking back immediately behind him, expecting the worst, but he saw: Nothing.

His eyes still wide from fear, he breathed shallowly as he blinked them once, twice, thrice. He was sure he had heard something. He knew real from not-real, he knew that what he heard wasn't some figment of his imagination, but now that he looked, nothing was there. Not even the slightest shadow.

Thinking of shadows, his eyes shifted to look at the packed trees, now grateful that he wasn't between them; they would have made it even worse. Still, he couldn't see anything among them.

Getting up, he dusted off his pants -which was a useless attempt at staying clean- and quickly looked between the two branching roads. He bit his lower lip, then made a quick decision, and went for the right road; that tree on the left one was pretty disturbing, and perhaps the sound had come from it. In that case, he wanted to be as far as possible from the tree.

Walking towards the right side, Nico remembered the rustle and shivered, looking behind him instinctively for the millionth time that day. Somebody was in the forest, Nico was almost sure, and he was also pretty sure that they weren't there to help him.

"Careful, Nico," He muttered to himself as he looked behind him again, the other road he'd left behind finally fading away.

* * *

Ms. Tamara had tears in her eyes as she talked to the principal via phone, accepting the scolding she was getting. She was currently sitting with all the students, 'Minus one,' She kept on reminding herself guiltily, 'Minus Nico di Angelo. Sweet Nico di Angelo,'. Once they'd reached the farm, she'd counted all the children and realized Nico di Angelo was gone. Then she'd counted them again, then again, searching between all of them for the missing boy. She'd refused to believe that he was lost, but eventually she'd accepted it, with dread filling her. Once the bus driver found out, he reported that to the school -who in turn reported it to the police- and quickly went back with her along the way they'd come to search for the missing boy, perhaps they could find him in the campsite.

Of course, they didn't, and after that, the school had informed the teacher that she was to return with all the children immediately, and that the boy's parents were to be informed in a little while. She wanted to ask how long was a little while, because if she was a mother she'd want to know immediately, but she kept her mouth closed and ushered all the children into the bus, staying silent as they all asked questions and made complaints about that trip being the worst trip ever, but she was no longer listening;

She'd lost Nico di Angelo. She'd been given a responsibility, she'd been given the boy's parents' trust, and she failed them by losing their child. Tears welled up again as she thought about the boy. He was a sweet boy, silent and seemed hostile, but he was sweet on the inside and she actually enjoyed talking to him. She could see potential in him that she didn't see in all the kids she taught, but that all didn't matter now, because she'd lost the boy, and there was no repairing that.

Nodding at something the principal had ordered, it vaguely sounded like: 'Don't let the kids know what happened', she shut the phone and put it in her pocket, looking out of her window, when a boy asked:

"Where's that Emo kid?" Everybody laughed, and Ms. Tamara felt a stab in her heart. Her hands shook as she tried to control her tears, but eventually they got the better of her,

Ms. Tamara finally put her shaking hands against her face, and wept.

* * *

"Hades, something just doesn't feel right," Maria di Angelo, Mother of Nico di Angelo, and soon to be the mother of the boy on the milk carton said, sitting down at the kitchen counter and rubbing her arms anxiously. Ever since the previous day, she'd been feeling anxiety knots in her stomach, knots that ate away at her slowly, and she couldn't explain why. She'd only felt like that once before, when she'd lost her daughter in the shopping mall, and that was only for a few minutes, but she still recognized it immediately, it was her mother instincts kicking in. Something told her one of her children wasn't okay, and since she knew her daughter was in the living room gossiping with her friends, she figured that meant Nico was hurt. Nico needed her, she could feel it with all her soul, but she couldn't figure out why he needed her and she couldn't reach him.

"It's nothing, Maria, you're just worried because of that storm that happened." Hades di Angelo comforted his wife distractedly as he worked on his laptop. His name, of course, was not Hades. It was James, but anybody who dared to call him by that besides his parents never got to see the end of it, as people claimed, so he was known as Hades. Hades wasn't happy with the current arrangement. His son was off on some silly school trip, his wife was fraying her nerves worrying about him, and he wasn't even allowed to work in the living room because his daughter and her friends had dominated it. No, Hades was not happy at all, and little did he know that his mood was about to take a turn for the worse.

"No, something's wrong with Nico, I can _feel_ it Hades, call the school maybe something went wrong-" Maria meant to finish but at that same second, her phone rang.

Quickly getting off the chair –and nearly tipping it over- she scrambled to her phone, picking it up with shaky hands and clicking the 'Accept' button quickly,

"H-hello?" Maria di Angelo stuttered as the phone almost fell out of her shaking hands, gripping it firmly to her ear, "Hello?" She tried again, her voice sounding less shaken,

"Mrs. Di Angelo-" The voice started but Maria cut them off quickly,

"Nico's hurt isn't he? What's wrong with my son? Tell me what's wrong with my son _right now_." She hissed angrily, angry tears lining the edges of her eyes.

There was silence, then the reply she was expecting but still killed her like a thousand arrows to the heart came, "Yes," The voice said solemnly.

Maria moaned and dropped the phone as she sank down to her knees, cradling her head as she mumbled to herself, tears falling. She knew it, _she knew it_. She knew her son wasn't okay. Her son was hurt. Her baby boy was hurt, so why didn't the world care? 'The whole world should know,' she thought. 'The whole world should know that my baby Nico isn't okay.'

Hades noticed and quickly dashed for the phone, holding it to his ear, "What is wrong?" He asked firmly, his voice never wavering despite the feeling of dread secretly spreading through him.

"Mr. Di Angelo, a-as we informed your wife, your son is hurt," The voice said hesitantly,

"Hurt? How hurt? Explain!" He barked at the phone.

"Your son is.. missing, sir." Hades froze. His eyes didn't blink. All he could hear was that sentence, _'Your son is missing, sir'_ over and over and over again. His son, his only boy was missing. How could that possible happen?

"What?" He asked, dumbfounded.

"He's missing, sir. He was reported missing early this morning by his teacher, Ms… Tamara? Yes. We are about to start the investigation-" Hades shut the line. He sank to his knees next to his wife, resting his back on the cabinet, and stared down at his shaking hands.

Nico was missing. He couldn't quite believe it.

A sob snapped him back to reality and he subconsciously moved his arm to wrap around his weeping wife, kissing her head as he rocked them back and forth soothingly. They'd figure it out. It wasn't the end of this.

They would figure it out.

* * *

Percy sighed and rolled around on his bed. He'd done all the stuff he could do in a weekend without Nico around to entertain him. He'd slept, he'd eaten blue pancakes, he'd slept again, and he'd played all the video games he could think of, but he was still _bored_.

He wished Nico could come back. The two always had so much fun together on weekends, either with movie nights or stupid adventures in the park, but _Nooo_, Mrs. Di Angelo had to send Nico on that stupid trip. Percy liked Mrs. Di Angelo, she was nice and she made good food –normal colored food- but he still hadn't appreciated it when she'd sent Nico on that trip. She'd told him she wanted Nico to interact more with other kids, and he understood that, but it still didn't mean he liked it.

Groaning, he sat up and checked his phone, frowning. He'd told Nico to call or text him the moment he reached the campsite, and he was sure it wasn't so far that it would take almost two days.

'Maybe he's busy,' He thought and nodded, putting the phone back down. It was possible; Nico read a lot and seemed to always lose track of time, so he was probably just reading and didn't notice that he hadn't texted Percy yet.

Percy stood up finally, walking around in boredom before finding a tennis ball, grabbing it and starting to throw it at the wall in a boring repetitive manner. Of course, Percy had other stuff to do, like homework, but he wasn't feeling like doing anything now that Nico was gone on that trip, and he was definitely not doing homework; that was a no-no. He could of course, go back to playing video games, 'But then what?' He thought, and nodded. Then what?

He kept on throwing the ball at the wall for a while. He didn't keep track of time, he just fixed his eyes on the ball and watched it fly to the wall then back to his hand, again and again, until his eyes were moving unconsciously, chasing after it. It could have been hours later, or it could have been only a few minutes later, when his Mother barged into his room, eyes red rimmed and tearful, and said three words that made his whole life simply freeze:

"Nico's missing."

The ball fell to the floor.

* * *

**A/N: It pains me to ruin that amazing end for the chapter, but I think I need to just point out SOME things. I'd like you all to keep in mind that these are all initial reactions for everybody. Even Nico. Not going to say anymore, but keep that in mind. Also, _remember_****_ details._ There are some pretty vague details that DO matter, so try to spot those. Ah, and don't discard a Point of View. Each part is given to one -or in his parents' case two- character(s) for a reason. These people are important in the story, and that's why you get to see stuff from their eyes too. I don't think I want to give any more stuff, but I'd like to remind you that although the landmarks and papers from Slender will remain the same, there will be obvious changes in some things, like the rout Nico started with, it is completely different from the one you start with in the game. (You actually start with the crunchy road in the game, so.) Anyway, I wouldn't like to make this long, I'm sorry again for the late update, I'm probably going to be updating again by the end of the week, let me know what you think of everything and anything in this chapter, and thank you all for the support. Please Review!**

**~Charlie-the-Spider**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Hey guys, just wanted to say here that I'm sorry for the delay, this is more than a week and I'm aware of that, it's just that -like I've mentioned on my other fanfic- I've been really sick and couldn't focus on writing. Anyway, I'll let you read now, and discuss stuff at the bottom. Enjoy!**

**Summary: **** Thirteen year old Nico finds himself lost amongst a dark forest, containing a fearful and sinister creature that will eventually drive him mad with insanity. Is it all just a dream? Or has a nightmare finally taken control over his life?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nico di Angelo or any of the PJO characters, neither do I own Slenderman or the PC game Slender, I do own Ms. Tamara and the school kids though.**

**Warning: Contains somewhat gross scenes that involve egestion. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.**

**Let the Games Begin**

All the memories of Nico played and replayed in front of Percy's mind's eye as he stared at his mother, his eyes wide and his body motionless as the words echoed in his mind until they made no sense at all. Percy felt himself being tugged from behind and distantly wondered why somebody would be pulling him, right until he realized he was slowly backing away. Backing away from the words, backing away from the news his mother brought, backing away from all the awful things in life, and clinging –as a desperate attempt- on the memory of his best friend, on the memory of Nico di Angelo.

A low, tortured sob sounded and Percy clamped his mouth shut with his hands as he realized it had come from him, shaking his head furiously as he continued to stare at his mother, tears building up in his eyes,

"No, no, no, you're lying," He muttered then moved his hand away from his mouth, snarling at her, "_stop lying!_" He shouted angrily, the back of his leg hitting the bed and he sat down abruptly, unconscious of the tears that were streaming down his face,

"Percy, please-" Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson's mother, began but was quickly cut off by her son as he let out a furious, guttural scream,

"It's all your fault! It's all your fault, you convinced his mom to send him there, you told her it's better, _you wanted him to get lost!_" Percy shouted in an accusatory tone as the tears streamed down his face at an alarming rate, his sea-green pupils small as dots.

"NO! God, Percy how could you say that- I loved that boy-"

"No you didn't! None of you did and look what you've done; you've gotten him lost, you've gotten my best friend in the whole world _lost_!" His voice broke as a panicked sob escaped his lips, followed by another, then another, until her son was a sobbing mess, and Sally Jackson was too affected by his accusations to do anything more than stand with tears in her eyes.

Alexander –Poseidon- Jackson walked into his only son's room, carrying himself with pride and dignity as he put a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder,

"Go," He directed gently. Sally Jackson opened her mouth to argue before closing it again, nodding and quickly leaving the room, a whimper coming from her as she shut the door. Poseidon Jackson stood motionless in the middle of the room as he watched his son with intelligent blue eyes, saying nothing for a few minutes before finally speaking,

"Boy," He said strongly and frowned as his son continued to sob, not pleased by being ignored. "Boy," He called again in a louder voice and was satisfied when his son's sobs paused long enough for his son to look up at him with tearful eyes,

"What?" Percy Jackson croaked, glaring at his father. He hated everyone. He hated everyone for keeping Nico di Angelo from him. What were they waiting for? Why weren't they turning the country upside down with their search teams? Why was everybody acting like it was okay?

"Don't _'what'_ me, son, I'm not some kid you play with at school. Sit up straight and wipe all that snot off your face," He commanded, pulling the chair Percy used when studying and placing it in front of the bed before sitting on it to face his boy,

"Dad, look, I'm really not in the mood for-"

"Did I ask whether you're in the mood or not? I said wipe that shit off and sit up straight," Poseidon interrupted, a smirk on his face as his son sighed and sat up, wiping his face on his sleeves before finally looking at him straight in the face,

"Yeah?" Percy asked halfheartedly, his eyes rimmed with red. Poseidon almost berated the boy again for _casually_ saying '_yeah?_' but then decided that his son truly was in too much pain at that moment.

"Son, do you know why I'm talking to you?" He asked, patting his son's knee strongly,

"Because you don't know what else to do other than that?" Percy shrugged, making his father laugh in amusement,

"Well that's a good point," Poseidon started, "But no. I'm talking to you, Percy, because now that you've cried, you need to pull yourself together, can you do that?"

"I like, cried for five minutes and you want me to stop already?" Percy asked, anger hinted in his voice,

"Yes," Poseidon answered simply and raised his finger before his son could interrupt, "Wait, I haven't allowed you to talk yet." He stopped and watched his son -who kept his mouth tightly shut- then smiled, "I want you to stop because all this crying wouldn't help the di Angelo boy, would it now?"

Percy said nothing.

"Well, would it?" He pressed and waited for his son to react, relaxing in satisfaction as Percy slowly shook his head and looked down.

"No. So we must do something that will help," He said and his son immediately perked up,

"What are you talking about, dad?" Percy asked cautiously, knowing his father was a reckless man ninety nine percent of the time and not wanting to get stuck in his madness,

"I'm talking about helping your friend. The boy is lost somewhere and the police isn't doing anything about it, don't you think we should handle this matter on our own?" He grinned widely and watched as a small, tiny spark began to ignite in his son's eyes,

"I-" Percy began, but before he could continue his mother barged into the room and pointed a strict finger at his father,

"Don't you dare egg him on," She threatened and Percy watched his father smile innocently,

"I would never dream of it, dear." He said, then turned back to Percy and ruffled his hair, "Stay strong kiddo," He said and stood up, making his way out of the room, confident that his job had been done. Why?

Because he'd already lit the fire.

* * *

Nico groaned as another wave of nausea hit him and he gripped his stomach, trying not to hurl. Nico had started feeling stomachaches after a few feet from the beginning of his chosen road, and soon after he had started to get sweaty and nauseous. He wanted to lay down and sleep _so_ badly, but he knew he had to keep going if he wanted to find his way out, so he tolerated it all.

'_After all,'_ Nico thought as he wiped some sweat off his forehead, _'I'll be getting the best treatment when I find my way back.'_ Nodding to reassure himself, Nico continued to walk, muttering softly to himself as he started to feel his throat dry up, before a pain went right down his stomach to his intestine and he froze completely,

"Oh, no," He whispered, "Please, god, no." He pleaded but it didn't work, and soon Nico was forced to respond to nature's call as he crouched at the side of the road, butt-naked, and prayed to every god he knew of to stop this before it got messy.

Groaning, Nico stabilized himself with his hand rested in front of him as he waited for his body to finish disposing all its waste products, his tongue numb from all the cursing it had done while he had waited,

"I hate everyone," He moaned desperately as his stomach ached again and his hand bucked, making him almost lose his balance before he quickly shifted to the other hand, sighing in relief.

It was a while before Nico was done, and when he was, he took off his shoe, retrieved his sock, used it to clean himself before throwing it away in the bushes, and fixing his clothes until he was decent again. Sighing, he looked around tiredly then moved on from the place, tears in his eyes as he recoiled in disgust at the smell. He hadn't even thought about the possibility that the berries could have a reverse effect, like Diarrhea for example, and look how he was now.

Shaking his head, Nico cracked a smile as he thought about what Percy would have said about him pooping in the wild. Percy would have definitely cracked up for hours about that, just imagining how Nico had dealt with it. But Nico had dealt with it quite well, or he liked to think so to make himself better. Other people could have managed a diarrhea attack a lot worse, no?

Nodding, he hummed before stopping abruptly, reaching another slight fork in the road. Frowning, Nico looked at the two sides, the right one showing that tall tower he'd seen earlier –which turned out to be a Silo, he noted- and the left one stretched on pretty far, but from what Nico could see at the end –Nico was grateful for his incredible eyesight- there was some sort of building, and buildings were always good signs, right?

Nico stood at the fork for a few seconds, looking at the Silo and thinking if he should go study it first, before finally shrugging and turning the left way, starting to make his way towards the mysterious building.

* * *

Maria di Angelo wrapped her hair into a bun and secured it with a claw hair clip as the doorbell rang. She made her way to the door and opened it, only to find two police agents standing there,

"Hello, Mrs. Di Angelo, I'm Officer Peter Grant and this is my partner Officer Vanessa Green, we're here to collect data concerning your son?" The man who had introduced himself as Officer Peter Grant said as he flashed his NYPD card at her, taking his sunglasses off with the other hand. Maria di Angelo nodded and opened the door wider for the two to enter, waited, then shut it behind them,

"I expected you to get here a lot sooner, to be truthful," She said as she gestured to the living room –which was now empty since her daughter had gone upstairs- before heading that way, waiting for them to sit down before sitting down herself,

"Traffic," Officer Vanessa Green explained and Maria nodded, her insides boiling at that. _Traffic_ was what was delaying the search for her son. _Traffic_.

"So what do you need to know?" She asked as she handed them glasses of water she'd already prepared, her hands shaking slightly from both bitterness and sadness,

"Well we have a picture of your son," Officer Peter said as he showed her a picture of Nico, completely ignorant of the fact that tears instantly filled her eyes as she looked at it, as he continued, "But we need full description of what he was wearing, and we need you to describe his personality as best as you can,"

"Well," Maria frowned and thought a little, "He, um, he was wearing a plain red shirt, a polo shirt!" She clicked her fingers as she remembered which shirt he had chosen to wear, "With black jeans, and red converse shoes. He also had a jacket but-"

"It's in his backpack ma'am, we found it," Officer Vanessa said quickly and Maria frowned at her,

"You have his backpack but you didn't return it to us?" She asked, her chest tightening even more with anger,

"We need to run some investigations on it before giving it to you, ma'am, it could have some traces of his kidnapper, if there _is_ a kidnapper," Officer Vanessa reminded and Maria di Angelo's face took on a cold quality,

"Are you suggesting that my son has run away?" She asked, spelling out each word carefully,

"Ma'am, please, you need to understand that a lot of kids your son's age tend to do-"

"My son did _not_ run away! My son was a perfectly happy child!" She raised her voice as her eyes took on a furious quality,

"Ma'am, the chances that your son has been actually kidnapped are a lot slimmer than his running away; according to his classmates he was quite the hostile one-"

"My son is _not_ hostile," Maria argued then stopped, "You know what, get out."

"Ma'am, we're just trying to help-"

"Then go look for him. I gave you the information you need, so go look for him. If you can't even do that, then get out of my house," She stared them down coldly, her eyes daring them to speak a word.

"As you wish, ma'am," Officer Peter said after a few moments then put the water down before getting up, "Thank you for your time, ma'am," He said and Maria nodded stiffly as she guided them back to the door, slamming it shut as they left through it.

"Mom?" Bianca called as she stood at the foot of the stairs, watching her mother with her beautiful brown eyes,

"Yes, Bee?" Maria asked as she walked up to her daughter and hugged her tightly, her daughter hugging back immediately before letting go to look at her mother- who was the same height as her.

"Have they found him yet?" She asked softly and Maria's eyes softened before she kissed her daughter's forehead gently, brushing a strand of hair away from her face,

"Not yet, but don't worry Bee, we'll find him," Maria smiled gently at her daughter, whose eyes turned hopeful,

"We will?"

Maria nodded firmly, her eyes confident, "We will," She promised as she glanced at Nico's picture on the wall,

"I promise you that,"

* * *

Nico kicked a stone dully as he watched the ground before looking up ahead, smiling as he realized that he was almost at the building, which had proved to be a lot bigger than he had been expecting. Nico was thankful for not facing another _situation_ on his way to that building, since the _first_ situation had drained all his strength. Of course, his stomachache hadn't left, but it was a lot less than before, which was also something to be thankful for.

Still, Nico was no fool, and he knew that unless he found something to help him with this problem soon, he'd be having a lot more _situations_ until he got dehydrated and died. His luck wasn't all that great so far though, since he hadn't found even a drop of water along the road.

_'It must be a curse'_ Nico was thinking as he lowered his eyes to the ground and watched a bush, passing by it before stopping slowly, then walking back again.

"Wait a minute," He muttered to himself as he went to his knees beside it, studying its features. It was a whitish-green color, and its texture was almost hairy as he touched one of its leaves. At first, it looked no different than any other bush, but as Nico moved his nose closer to a leaf, its strong scent hit him, and he realized what it was.

"Sage," He grinned to himself, "This is a sage bush!" He cried louder, laughing softly as he sniffed it again just to make sure. Yep, it was definitely sage.

Grinning victoriously, Nico picked off a leaf and studied it carefully –not wanting to repeat the incident from before- confirming that it was, indeed, a sage leaf, before biting into it, the flavor hitting his mouth immediately. It didn't taste great, but it was somewhat sweet and it had a lot of benefits. According to his grandmother, sage could heal a lot of things, and one of those things was luckily diarrhea.

Chewing the leaf with some effort, Nico sat down next to the bush, opting to take his time as he finally swallowed some of it, thanking his grandmother a thousand times for insisting on treating him and his sister with natural medicine. It took him a while, but Nico was finally finished with the leaf –with a somewhat bitter taste in his mouth that herbs usually left. Getting up, he began to walk but then stopped and went back to the bush, picking off as many leaves as he could and stuffing them in his pockets before turning back to his destination –the building- and walking forward again, feeling a lot better now that he knew he had natural medicine by his side.

Reaching the building didn't take too long, but it took long enough for the day to turn into sunset, which made Nico hurry up as he searched for the entrance; he didn't want to be outside when the night fell.

Nico was about to enter, when he noticed a piece paper plastered on the wall next to the door, and he raised an eyebrow curiously before going to the paper to study it,

The paper was yellowed with age, rumpled, and was already detaching itself off the painted wall of the building. Nico frowned as he looked at it, eyes widening as he read the words written on it, which read: 'HELP ME'. The letters were all written in capital, as if they were an urgent message, and the way the letters were written was so disturbing and intriguing it sent a shiver down Nico's spine. He felt cold now, somehow, as he held the paper, but he felt like this was a sort of SOS kind of message, and he knew that it was his responsibility to figure out who had written it, and help them, since he was the one who found the paper first.

Nodding to himself, Nico took the paper off the wall and folded it into his pocket, looking up at the darkening sky before moving back to the entrance, noticing for the first time that the building was actually a big shower room. Sighing, Nico shrugged his shoulders and went in, going through the many corridors to one of the sort of closed off showers, not too happy with the arrangement but knowing a bathroom was a whole lot better than the woods.

Nico sat down in the corner and got out some more sage leaves, chewing on them slowly as he mulled over the note, shivers running up and down his spine continuously as he remembered the writing style. It looked so… so…

Nico shook his head. He couldn't even put it into words, but it had left its effect on him. Nico stayed up for a while, chewing leaves and staring at the far wall, an unexplained fear dwelling in the back of his mind as he fought off sleep, but eventually, as it was only normal for humans, he put away his concerns, and went to sleep.

**DAY TWO**

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey all! So sorry if that scene bothered you, I'm just trying to keep it realistic. Not a lot of scenes like that will appear, no worries, but yeah, I needed to do that one in this chapter, so I hope you're not upset and won't ditch this story because of that.  
****Um, so for those of you who don't know much about sage, it really does help with diarrhea, and other digestive/intestinal stuff. Yeah, count this as a fun-fact!  
****So, this might get confusing for you, especially because in the game a person doesn't really note how the road is, so if you'd like a map, write it in a review and I'll put the link on my profile so you could see it whenever you want.  
****Anyway, guys thank you so much for the follows and favorites but I'd like to ask for a small, annoying favor. Please review. This fanfiction is psychological on a lot of levels and I need to know what you guys are thinking while reading, so please, try to review. If I get five or more reviews I'll probably be updating again during this month. I care about what you think, and I care about all your comments. You can even like, hate on me for that diarrhea scene. I deserve it.  
Again, sorry, let me know if you want the map, please review, and I hope you enjoyed!  
Until next time,  
~Charlie-the-Spider**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hey guys. I'm so so so sorry for this, was supposed to be updated before this month but a lot of "shit" has happened lately and I couldn't edit and update till now. I'll try to make another update before finals but it's highly unlikely. I'm still so very sorry, I broke my promise and I feel awful about it, it's just that life gets in the way sometimes. Anyway, I won't make this any longer for you guys, bet you can't stand me so, enjoy, I hope.**

**Summary: ****Thirteen year old Nico finds himself lost amongst a dark forest, containing a fearful and sinister creature that will eventually drive him mad with insanity. Is it all just a dream? Or has a nightmare finally taken control over his life?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nico di Angelo or any of the PJO characters, neither do I own Slenderman or the PC game Slender, I do own Ms. Tamara and the school kids though.**

**Blood**

Maria di Angelo pushed a carriage filled with groceries out of the supermarket and made her way to her car, beginning to transfer the bags from the carriage to the boot when somebody tapped her shoulder.

Scared to near death, she was surprised to find her neighbor in front of her. Her neighbor, Susan, had never really liked her, but Maria guessed it was due to the fact that Nico used to always go and ruin all her flowers as a child.

"Maria, hello," Susan said, warmly enough,

"Hello, Susan, is something wrong?" Maria asked with a fake smile on her face, continuing to transfer the bags while watching her neighbor. Her neighbor looked taken aback a little as she opened her mouth, closed it then frowned in mild confusion before finally smiling sweetly,

"Maria, your son is dead, no?" She asked with a venomous sweet smile on her face. Maria's face hardened as she glared at her neighbor, slamming the door to her car shut,

"He's not dead," She hissed, "He's just a little lost, and he's coming back soon,"

"Sure he is, sweety," Susan assured, her faked sweet smile never wearing off.

"He is," Maria insisted, holding eye contact with her neighbor, who frowned at her again. The two women stood there silent for a few moments, before Susan finally cleared her throat and smiled yet again,

"Well I need to go now. Stay strong sweety, and look on the bright side; you won't have to pay for his Christmas presents," She said as she laughed coldly and turned to her car, getting in and driving away.

Seething, Maria got into her car. She gripped her steering wheel tightly as she glared at it, tears flowing rapidly down her face until she screamed, honking the horn again and again and again until all the power left her body and she fell against it, crying softly; mourning her lost son. It took Maria some time to gather herself together but when she finally did, she pushed the keys into the keyhole, turned, and started the car quickly, backing out of her assigned parking place and then the whole parking lot, driving through the streets with slightly puffed eyes.

Maria was pulling into her driveway when she noticed someone sitting on the front porch. Frowning, she got out of the car and walked up to them, only to realize it was her son's best friend; Percy.

"Percy?" She asked gently, her eyes softening as she noticed his puffy eyes and the paleness of his face. She watched him stand up and walk up to her before opening her arms wide, hugging him tightly to her chest as the boy sobbed softly into her bosom,

"Shh. It's okay, it's okay," She assured as she listened to the boy's mournful sobs, a sob of her own escaping her lips as she thought about those two. _Nico must be missing Percy greatly,_ She thought, _Just as much as Percy is missing him. Maybe even more_.

The two stood there for a while, one a mother and another a great friend, just embracing each other and mourning that one person they both loved more than the whole world, before Percy finally pulled away, his eyes still puffy but no longer crying,

"I-I'm sorry," He cleared his throat, looking down in shame.

"It's okay," Maria smiled gently, lifting his chin back up with a gentle hand, studying the boy's sea green eyes with her chocolate brown ones before sighing, "You miss him so much, don't you?" She asked and watched the young boy nod and look away,

"I can't stop thinking about him, can't stop regretting-"

"Letting him go?" She asked and Percy nodded again, looking at her with his stunning sea-green eyes, "I do too," She whispered softly, stroking the boy's face gently before hugging him to her chest yet again, "Let's go in, okay?" She asked as a cold wind blew,

"Sounds like a good idea," Percy laughed softly as he shivered from the cold, hugging his jacket to his chest and starting to make his way to the house,

"Ah-ah-ah, you've got to help me with the groceries first," Maria laughed as the boy huffed moodily, ruffling his hair and kissing his head before both of them started to transfer the paper bags from the car to the house, laughing together each time the wind came and blew Maria's dress,  
"This is why you should never wear a dress, Percy," Maria lectured a she walked into the kitchen with the boy, opening the fridge and pouring him some orange juice as he laughed,

"Yes ma'am, I won't," He laughed again and Maria chuckled before kissing his head yet again, pouring herself coffee and sitting opposite of him. She studied her son's best friend for a while. He acted so different from Nico, yet they had so many similarities, like how they both drank their juice in tiny sips, how they both played with the glass more than actually drinking from it, and how they both twirled their thumbs around each other when nervous,

"What's wrong, Percy?" She said with a smile as she gestured to his thumbs, chuckling as the boy blushed and stopped quickly,

"I, um-" Percy hesitated and looked down, twirling his thumbs unconsciously yet again,

"You came here for a reason Percy, I know you did. What's the matter?" She urged again and watched the boy open his mouth, close it, then open it again before finally looking her in the eyes.

"Okay yea I came here for a reason I-I wanted to offer something to you…" Percy trailed off nervously, picking at the table's cover,

"Well..?" She asked patiently, smiling and shaking her head at the boy before freezing as she heard his next words,

"I want to save Nico," Percy said, looking into her eyes as she stared back in shock before she started to gather her thoughts again,

"P-Percy! Don't talk about stuff like that- I- Are you feeling okay sweety?" She asked as she got up and started pacing around the kitchen nervously, trying to fend off all the tempting ideas forming in her head.

"I'm feeling alright, Maria, and you are too. What's to stop us, huh?" He asked, getting off his seat as a wave of excitement surged through him,

"Hmm, let me see. Maybe the cops? Your parents? My husband? People in general? Come on Percy, don't think such childish thoughts the cops will-"

"The cops won't do anything and _you know it_! You know it, you know it, you know it; so why aren't you helping?" Percy asked, his voice cracking as tears filled his eyes. The two held eye contact for a while, Percy trying to contain his tears while Maria tried to contain her own, before she finally looked down, whispering,

"I just don't want to…" She trailed off, studying the suddenly interesting floor of her kitchen, noting the place where Nico had once spilled ink. The place was still not a clear white.

"You don't want what, Maria?" Percy asked, sniffing and wiping a falling tear,

"I don't want to hang onto false hope," Maria replied, wiping her own tears,

"It's not false hope. You _know_ Nico's alive, don't you?" Percy asked, watching her as she remained silent, "_Don't you?!_" He pressed again and Maria nodded firmly, "Then why not?"

"We don't know where to start, Percy," She said

"We'll start at camp, one step at a time. Dad's willing to help too," Percy replied quickly, his sinking heart starting to slowly lift itself back up; she was actually starting to agree!

"Your dad- when did you plan all this, Percy?" She asked curiously, raising an eyebrow at the evil glint in the boy's eyes,

"Yesterday. Dad gave me the idea, we just have to put it into action," He said, starting to grin excitedly as he noticed her eyes starting to look convinced,

"I-"

"It's the least we could do for Nico, Maria. We owe him," Percy interrupted and watched his best friend's mom nervously. This was the moment that determined whether they'd go on looking for Nico, or fail themselves and fail Nico as well.

It took a long time, but Maria eventually looked back up at the boy, a determined glint in her eyes, and said two words that made the boy's heart fly:

"I'm in."

* * *

Nico yawned as he walked out of the big shower-rooms building, stretching in his dirtied clothes as he squinted at what little sun he could see. His eyes had gotten so used to the dark that it was painful to see a little light anymore.

Sighing heavily, he pushed his hands into his pockets, one of them bumping into a jumbled item, making him frown before remembering what it was. Pulling it out quickly, he unfolded the paper he had stuffed there last night and read what was written again, a shiver going down his spine yet again. Shaking his head to shake off the tingly feeling, he looked at it before looking around again. He had to look for the person that wrote that. He could help them, and he could also gain a companion, but the real question was: Where could he start?

Frowning, Nico decided to make his way around the bathroom building, in case the person who wrote the note was sticking around. Nodding in agreement with his decision, he started to make his way around it anti clock-wise, checking every corner to see if there was a person sitting here or there, but coming up with nothing.

Reaching the back of the building for the second time, Nico looked to the other side and watched the rusty tanks he had seen the first round. They seemed a little off, he noted as a shiver ran down his spine. They seemed like some sort of _maze_, a maze put there just to disorientate people. A thought jumped to Nico's mind then, a thought that made him smile at his own stupidity. Of course the person would be hiding _there_; it was a very clever hideout.

Smirking victoriously, Nico edged closer towards the tanks, watching around him as yet another shiver made its way down his spine. The first tanks that met him were two, very rusted red tanks aligned next to each other, with all the other tanks behind them. He knocked on one curiously, wanting to see if they contained anything, a hollow sound replying to his knock. They were empty. He walked around the tank slowly, curiously, studying its every feature, before remembering why he was there and moving along to other tanks, turning around them again and again, but to no avail; he couldn't find a soul.

Sighing, Nico looked back at the forest and grimaced, feeling his heart slowly sink in his chest. There was only one way to look properly for this person, and it was to go through the forest. '_I just have to stay near this place so I don't get more lost,'_ he reasoned with himself, '_Nothing to be afraid of anyway, they're just trees.'_

Nodding, he sighed yet again and made his way to the edge of the forest, wanting to look behind him but opting against that, before finally going in there.

That was one of his smart choices.

* * *

All the women around the table laughed; smoke filling the air around them as each held a different kind of alcohol in her hand. These women were the housewives in the suburbs of New York, more specifically Bronxville, the suburbs the di Angelo family currently resided in. Around the table were six women: Michaela, Kathrin, Judie, Zoe, Tris and finally Susan. The table, of course, was missing two women from that neighborhood, the two women being Maria di Angelo and Sally Jackson, who both prided themselves with being detached from that 'useless group of gossip that had nothing better to do than exchange housewife stories'. Of course, the women around the said table were relishing in that at that moment, because they all –naturally- wanted to gossip about Maria di Angelo, the woman who had recently lost her only son.

"So girls, girls," Susan said as the laughs died down around the table, sucking a breath from a cigarette between her fingers before grinning, "Guess who I met today down at the supermarket?"

"Let me guess," Kathrin said as she drank some wine, "Mr. Six Packs?"

"No, well I met him too but I'm talking about somebody else here," Susan laughed,

"Who?" Zoe asked, crossing her legs,

"Maria. Di Angelo." Susan said slowly, grinning as she watched Tris gasp,

"That bitch is going grocery shopping while her son is laying around in some ditch dead?" She asked, sipping from her own cigarette a few times, the smoke traveling down her lungs, making her cough heavily before laughing at how tortured the cough sounded. Little did she know that that exact sound indicated a tumor in progress.

"Of course she is, Tris, she's probably celebrating the fact that there's just one less kid to take care of now," Judie rolled her eyes, "What did you say to her, Susan?"

"Okay so, at first I told her I'm sorry for your loss, you know, trying to be nice, and she gave me this weird crazy look and said: My son isn't dead, he's just lost, or some shit and I tried to remind her 'cause she looked totally hung over-" Susan was interrupted by a gasp from Zoe, "and then she was completely rude about it all, called me and my children names and even wished for them to all die in a house fire, so I just stayed as polite as I could and told her to look on the bright side, which is, of course, that she doesn't have to buy his Christmas presents anymore,"

"I can't believe she said that," Judie said, looking appalled as she rested her hand on her bosom,

"I can't believe you dealt with it so calmly, I would have beaten her up in the middle of the place," Kathrin said, putting a sympathetic hand on Susan's hand, "Are you okay, dear?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine just… just a little shaken, you could say," Susan said, making a fake weak smile that had all the women giving her sympathetic 'awww's' and pats on the hand,

"If you're worried about what she said I'm sure it wouldn't happen just because she wished it,"

"It's not that," Susan said, looking each and every one of them in the eye, "She looks insane, girls. I-I think she's the one who killed her son, what if she comes after my children next?"

"Now, now, let's not rush into conclusions girls," Michaela said, rolling her eyes at her friends' little acts. Of course she knew most of what Susan told them was a lie, partially because Susan was the type of person that told mostly lies and very little truth, but mainly because she knew that Maria di Angelo could never do that to her child. She remembered the day Nico had fallen from his bedroom window, how Maria had reacted in such fiery maternal instinct, picking him up and running to the car before driving straight to the hospital. Of course Maria couldn't do anything like killing Nico, she loved him.

"Not rush into conclusions?!" Zoe repeated, eyes wide, "Michaela I'm pretty sure she has murdered her child, she looks like those insane mothers that eat their children alive- we should report her!" Muttering went around the table at that, and of course none of the women noticed Susan smirk slightly before her smirk fell into a crushed expression again,

"Then that's what we'll do. We'll report her," She said evenly, her eyes glinting mischievously.

* * *

Nico growled temperamentally as some thorns got stuck to his clothing yet again, patting at them impatiently as he kept picking his way back to the tanks. He had been looking for the mystery person for hours now. Night was falling and the only good thing he had found was a small source of water that helped him freshen up a bit, but other than that he found _nothing_.

Walking ahead, he muttered to himself softly, unconscious of all the rustling that was around him as he studied the dark ground. He shivered, then wondered why he always did that; he had never been particularly afraid of the dark, so the fact that he was afraid now bothered him just a little since it made him frighten himself for nothing.

_At least I hope there's nothing,_ Nico thought to himself as he looked up to scan his field of vision, feeling self conscious before shaking it off yet again, looking back down at the ground to insure his footing. It took Nico a while of studying the ground before he realized it had turned from grassy to slightly muddy, and he slowly stopped before he looked up.

"What..?" Nico trailed off as his eyes studied the scenery in front of him. It seemed to be a group of rocks standing close to each other, each rock with a smooth looking surface and dull edges. The rocks were much taller than Nico, and there was a small gap between them in the middle. Frowning deeply, Nico moved closer towards them, confusion and panic flaring in him; he'd been sure he was following the right track, so where was he now?

Nico kept on studying the rocks for a while until a strong wind shook him back to consciousness, and he quickly put a hand on them, stroking the smooth-looking surface that turned out to be pretty rough. Turning in slow circles around them, Nico kept his eyes trained on the trail his hand was making when he stopped, noticing a change of color. He squinted and stuck his face closer, trying to see the color in the dark night, but he couldn't see anything. He meant to continue making his way in a circle when his foot tripped on something, almost betraying him and letting him fall but he quickly balanced himself before going down to his knees, searching blindly with his hand for the item, before it finally closed around it.

From what Nico could sense, it was cylindrical and pretty heavy. He moved his hand up and down only to realize that it widened a bit more at the top and had some sort of switch at the bottom. Feeling curious, Nico flicked the switch and a spot of light immediately illuminated the muddy grass that was right in front of him. Nico seemed a little shocked at the light before grinning happily, shining it on the spot on the rock, his grin fading. The color was the color of blood, and not just any blood, it was blood that has rotted so much it became a part of the item it was on. Scrunching his lips, he slowly looked down at the flashlight in his hand, putting his free hand on his mouth to avoid puking as he realized there was blood all over that too. Nico swallowed thickly and shone it on the place where he had found the flashlight, finding a bag that looked slightly cleaner and quickly picking it up. He looked inside hurriedly, noting all the equipment in it before slinging it over his back, sighing and resting his forehead on the clean part of the rocks.

_Where would blood come from anyway?!_ He thought to himself as he tried to control the panic flaring in him, turning the flashlight on and off repeatedly before finally pushing himself off the rock, opting to go look for a different place.

Still pretty disturbed, Nico turned around and flashed the light ahead of him, the light illuminating the dark around him,

And then Nico gasped.

* * *

**Author's Note: Just a quick note, at Nico's first part, it ended with "That was one of his smart decisions". You might be confused cause of how it ended, but I meant it's smart because he didn't turn around. Those who played the game know that turning around is the worst decision in Slender, so he unconsciously made a good decision. Anyway, I will apologize again, I'm sorry, and if you want to drop an angry review I understand. I'll try to not break my promises again, and um if you have any questions just ask me. Hope you enjoyed, see you all next time.**

**~Charlie-the-Spider**


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary: Thirteen year old Nico finds himself lost amongst a dark forest, containing a fearful and sinister creature that will eventually drive him mad with insanity. Is it all just a dream? Or has a nightmare finally taken control over his life?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nico di Angelo or any of the PJO characters, neither do I own Slenderman or the PC game Slender, I do own Ms. Tamara, the school kids, and the much hated neighbors though.**

**Always Watches- No Eyes**

The scream that was halfway through Nico's throat never got out as he stared with wide eyed fear at the figure before him. Before him stood a tall creature, with long arms, longer legs, and no face. The creature could have passed for a man, for it was dressed in a suit, except that it was no man; it was too tall, too horrid, too _disturbing. _No words could be enough to describe the creature, for the simplicity of it, made it that much more complicated. It only sent sheer horror down Nico's spine as he stared at it, motionless, voiceless, and wondering why on earth _he_ had to face this creature instead of sitting in his warm bed with a warm cup of hot chocolate and perhaps a few cookies- before the flashlight fell from his grasp, and he quickly came back to his senses.

Nico let out a frail whimper as he desperately knelt down on the ground, searching for the flashlight that had –unfortunately for him- turned off when it hit the ground. _'I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die,'_ his mind's voice repeated in a shrill, panicked voice in his head as his hand searched sightlessly for the flashlight, before it finally wrapped around it. Nico turned it on, picked himself up, and ran full-speed in the other direction, not even bothering to look behind him as his weak legs carried his thin form through many places, his mind not comprehending where he was or what he was doing, and simply repeating one sentence in his head again and again, one sentence that kept him spurred up:

_'I don't want to die.'_

* * *

_"Maria, I am saying this for the last time; leave it to the police!"_ Hades di Angelo hissed at his wife as he stood before the bed, grabbing the laptop she was currently using to search up unsolved mysterious cases before closing it and placing it on the ground.

"I _can't_ leave it to the police, the police don't _care_, James!" Maria used her husband's real name for the first time in decades, tears filling up in her eyes, "The police don't care and I'm not leaving my child out there."

"You're not leaving him out there, Maria, he's a di Angelo he can handle himself," Hades struggled to say, not really believing his own words.

"He's a _child_, Hades, it doesn't matter what his last name is; he's in danger and I can feel it, okay?" She softened her words at the end, her eyes mournful as she stared into her husband's eyes.

Hades stayed quiet for a while, staring back into her eyes before he finally moved closer, wrapping his arms gently around her and stroking her hair, "Okay…" He whispered into her ear. They remained in the embrace for quite a while, before Maria finally pulled away.

Hades sighed, got into bed beside his wife and kissed her head before turning off the light and going to sleep. Maria remained motionless for what seemed like hours, trying to gain sleep but incapable of doing so, before she finally got out from under the warm covers and went to the window.

Looking out of the window, Maria hugged her robes close to her figure, searching the dark streets for signs of movement. The occasional whiff of wind causing the leaves on the withering trees to sway and the window to rattle as the occasional night-wanderer walked past her house, but never, did her own son walk up the path leading to the door and ring the bell, apologizing for staying far too late at Percy's yet again, or even climb up the big old tree that led directly to his bedroom window. No, her son never appeared; no matter how many times her eyes begged him to.

Maria wasn't sure how long she stood there. It could have been a few minutes, or it could have been hundreds of hours, but eventually her eyes grew tired of looking –as they were bound to do naturally. She leaned against the window again to look out, before finally whispering softly:

"Where are you?"

She continued to look, waiting for a reply, but nothing came. Maria was yawning softly, stretching her back to relieve it from all the stress, when she suddenly paused, her eye catching something. She pressed her face against the window and looked out disbelievingly. There was a figure standing at the corner by the end of the street. But it was no humane figure. It was too tall, too grotesque, and to add to that all, it had no face. And it was definitely facing her house.

Maria's eyes widened impossibly as she stared at it, fear running down to the very core of her being as she wondered whether she was imagining it all or if it was real, and if it was real how it could be. Finally, her curiosity got the better of her, and she quickly opened the window, sending in a blast of cold wind that had her tightening her hold over her robes as she stared at where the figure was.

But she found nothing.

* * *

Nico breathed raggedly as he flashed his flashlight all around the forest, his pupils as small as dots in his wide, terrified eyes. He did not know who, or rather _what_ that was, but it was there to kill him, it was there to madden him, and he very well knew _that_ part. Nico flashed the flashlight on his hand and got even more panicked as he noticed how badly it was shaking before he noticed how badly his _whole body_ was shaking.

How was it possible for a creature that looked so humane to send so much fear into a person's soul, Nico wondered as he pulled at his hair desperately, the speed of his breathing already tiring his lungs. How was it possible for that creature to send so much fear into _Nico's_ soul, when all it had done was stand there and observe.

That was exactly what made it so frightening, he concluded as he wiped his face with his dirty sleeve. The fact that the creature _only_ stood and _only_ observed made it so disturbing. The fact that the creature didn't need to do anything to traumatize him, pointed only to one thing: The creature knew it could always remain two steps ahead of him.

Fear struck his heart again at that thought, his body still shivering as he tried to remember what it looked like, but found the image blocked from his memory. It was as if he'd never seen it, and he suddenly paused, frowning. Perhaps he had been imagining things, he thought to himself. Three days in a forest could do that to a person, right?

But it felt so real, another part of him argued. It felt real and you know it is real; it spoke to him in a hushed tone, which made him frown even more. If his own being was confused as to what he had seen, how could he be sure whether he's safe or not? Or better yet, whether he's _sane_ or not? It was all a jumbled mess now, and all he could do was…

He trailed off as he tried to think what he could do. Nothing. He concluded. He could do absolutely nothing.

_'All you can do is forget and move on, Nico'_ He spoke to himself in his mind, too afraid to actually speak, and nodded, deciding to continue to walk.

Walking was pretty difficult, Nico noted, as the adrenaline emptied from his body and left him tired and exhausted. All he wanted to do was curl up and sleep, but a force was pulling him, without him realizing it, to what looked like cross walls. His eyes drooping, Nico came up to them slowly, his hand resting on one of the quarters of the place as he studied it tiredly.

They looked like they were made from actual bricks, from what his flashlight could show, and they didn't look too worn with age, as if they were built somewhat newly. He trailed his fingers across the wall, then decided to make a full circle around them, his feet dragging heavily as he yawned.

Nico was about to stop and collapse, when he noticed something on one of the walls. Getting closer, he shone the flashlight on it, rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he couldn't make out what was written. Finally, as his vision adjusting, he realized it was another paper, but this one read something else this time. It was written in the same, messy handwriting the other one was written in, but instead of reading 'HELP ME' like the last one did, this one read: 'ALWAYS WATCHES- NO EYES' with underlining and a messy drawing in the middle.

Fear, confusion, and dread struck Nico's heart as he studied it, but right as he was about to move on, he felt his energy lacking, and collapsed onto the floor, closing his eyes obediently as his body begged him to sleep. Of course, his body never knew of the creature observing it just a couple of meters away.

**DAY THREE.**

* * *

Percy Jackson woke up the next morning feeling quite dreadful -for reasons he couldn't figure out- and quickly hopped out of bed, getting dressed to go to school while frowning deeply. Something in his sleep had disturbed him, but each time he came close to remembering, his memory failed him again, and left him even more confused and fearful than a few minutes before.

Sighing in defeat, he checked his hair in the mirror, tried to fix it and managed to only ruin it more, then ran down the stairs to the kitchen, taking only the piece of toast on his plate as he continued to head out, grabbing his school bag in the process, "Thanks mom,"

"Hey-Hey you can't just have that you'll starve!" Sally tried to shout after him,

"I'll be fine!" He assured her as he closed the door, running to the di Angelo estate first to meet with his best friend's mother. Knocking on the door, he waited impatiently, checking his phone every now and then to see how much he was running late. Finally, the door opened to reveal his best friend's father, and he grinned nervously at him,

"I-is Maria home?" He asked hesitantly, not sure if the man was okay with him dropping in on them at 7:30 in the morning.

"She is but shouldn't you be at schoo-" Hades was cut off as Maria appeared next to him, smiling softly,

"Hey Percy sweety, is there something wrong?" She asked with a tinge of concern in her voice, her motherly nature never failing her for a second.

"I- No- well I don't know, I was wondering if we're going to do something today?" He asked, glancing at Hades hesitantly, who was watching their exchange silently,

"I was just thinking about that, think you can drop in after school and maybe we could figure out what?" She asked, her gentle smile never fading as she patted his cheek,

"Yeah… Yeah okay, sure," He smiled, "Anyway I gotta run, already late for school. Thank you Mr. di Angelo, I'll see you later Maria!" He said quickly and turned on his heels, running wildly down the street to get to school in time, his heart throbbing from excitement, though not because of school –he'd murder himself if he ever thought school was exciting- but because of what would be coming after school.

They were finally going to look for Nico.

* * *

"Really, Maria, using the kid for your own purposes too?" Hades asked as he drank from his coffee, letting his wife fix his tie as his daughter chattered away on the phone,

"I'm not using him, Hades," Maria rolled her eyes, "He wanted to help and I won't stop him, Nico's his best friend after all,"

"That doesn't make it right for him to be doing this! What if you fail, huh? Will you just let him wallow in his guilt for the rest of his life?" He asked, putting down the mug to make eye contact with her, but she was avoiding his strong gaze,

"We won't fail," she said determinedly as she glanced up at him, noticing his gaze, "What? We won't. I'm getting my son back,"

Hades sighed heavily as she let go of his tie, now perfectly tied and nodded, rubbing his face, "Whatever you say, Maria," He said then glanced at his daughter, Bianca, "Bianca get off the phone already you need to go to school,"

"But the principal said I'm allowed to skip a few days if I'm not feeling well," She whined as she bid goodbye to whoever she was talking to, rolling her eyes at her dad,

"And from what I can see you're perfectly fine, your brother is the one missing not you, so go upstairs and get ready already I have to get to a meeting," Hades rolled his eyes back, resting his back on the counter,

"But dad-"

"No buts, get ready you have ten minutes," He interrupted, glancing at his watch,

"But I can't get ready in ten minutes!" She argued again,

"Nico used to get ready in ten minutes,"

"Um, yeah, but I happen to be a _girl_?" She asked, folding her arms against her chest stubbornly,

"Nine…" Hades counted as he looked at his watch again, smirking to himself,

"Ugh, fine!" She rolled her eyes, walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs, "Maybe the police are right and Nico _did_ run away because you're the _worst dad ever!_" She shouted dramatically, her teenage hormones kicking in,

Hades sighed heavily then smiled tiredly as Maria chuckled at him, "I'm just waiting for the day she goes to college, then maybe somebody else can deal with her teenage outbursts,"

"When that day comes you'll find yourself unable to let go, Hades," She chuckled again and kissed his cheek, knowing that because that was exactly what happened when her own father sent her off to college,

"Oh we'll see about that," He chuckled back and kissed his wife gently, "Do you really think Nico ran away because of me?" He asked, his eyes saddened suddenly,

"Of course not, Hades," She said softly, "You know why?"

"Why?" He asked, his eyes still sad as he waited for her reply,

"Because Nico never ran away," She replied softly and kissed his lips, watching him chuckle,

"You won't give up, ha?" He asked, stroking her plump cheek,

"Of course not, if I give up who'll save my son?" She asked and grinned at him, "Now go drive Bianca to school before she starts moping,"

He laughed and nodded, "Good luck," He said, kissing her head, then exited the kitchen, calling out to Bianca that he'd be waiting in the car, and finally walking out of the house.

* * *

Percy sighed as he exited the double doors of his school, groaning as he thought gloomily to himself about the long walk he'll have to do now in order to get to his neighbors' house. He'd had gym class as the last period of the day and all his muscles were sore from the rough exercise. He truly hated being athletic sometimes; it made the teacher go extra hard on him.

He was walking down the stairs that led to the street when he heard somebody call out and he looked towards the sound, raising his eyebrows in surprise as he spotted none other than Maria di Angelo. Walking up to her, he grinned widely,

"What are you doing here?" He asked as she tried to fix his messy hair,

"I thought I could wait here for you so we could just go immediately," She replied, frowning as a strand of his hair refused to lay low,

"Okay, but where are we going?" He asked curiously as he batted her hand away, watching her chuckle,

"First we're going to Nico's school, so hop in,"

Nodding, he went to the other side of the car, seating himself in the passenger seat and securing the seat belt, feeling both excited and nervous as she started the car and they both started their journey. All this could either succeed majorly or fail miserably, and the latter was more likely, Percy knew, even if they tried their best there was the possibility that they'd never find Nico, or worse; they'd never find him alive.

Maria glanced at the boy next to her and ruffled his hair softly, chuckling, "Don't think too hard, everything will be fine."

"Do you really think so?" He looked at her, his eyes desperate and fearful,

"I know so. And so should you, after all we're talking about _our_ Nico," She smiled gently and watched him smile back, her stomach tensing as she hoped against hope that they'd find Nico, knowing that if they didn't Percy would never forgive himself.

"So why are we going to his school first?" Percy asked after a few beats of silence, looking back at her again,

"Remember his teacher?" She asked as she drove into the parking lot of the school, looking for an open spot,

"Yeah, what about her?" He asked, frowning as he remembered Nico's strange homeroom teacher,

"Well she wanted to help us and I thought it could be a good idea, seeing as she's the last person who saw Nico," Maria replied as she finally found a space to park in and proceeded in placing her car there, shutting the engine and turning to him, "Wait here I'll go get her."

Percy nodded silently as she got out of the car, shutting the door before opening it again,

"Don't steal the car," She instructed and laughed softly as Percy laughed, rolling his eyes,

"I won't, now _go_." He grinned as he watched her walk back to the school building, sighing heavily and letting his head fall back. He just wanted to get there and find his best friend already, he missed him.

Percy spent a while in the car, just changing channels that only sent static while thinking about their trip, when he spotted the two women making their way to the car, Maria going around to the driver's seat while the teacher got into the back seat,

"I-if you want you can come sit here," He said politely, turning to smile at his friend's teacher, who smiled back politely,

"Oh no I'm comfortable here, thank you sweety," She said gently and Percy nodded,

"So," Maria said as she started the engine, "Everybody ready to go?" She asked, a nervous smile on her lips and everybody nodded.

Nodding back at them, she backed out of the school grounds, and then they were on their way to the place where it all began.

* * *

**Alright, I've had this written for a pretty long time, about a week or two, but I couldn't update till now. Either way, I hope you enjoyed it. To the Guest review who asked when he's getting the other papers, he's starting to get them now, but I just prefer keeping the pace of this story slightly slow because the game was too rushed. I'd like to build the whole plot, but I suppose you could say now the real game has begun.**

**You might have noticed the part where Slenderman appeared near Maria's house and how Percy woke up disturbed the next morning. What do you all think of it? If you have any suggestions as to _why_ it happened, I'd be pretty happy, since I do have a point in making him appear.**

**Oh, I'd like to tell you I updated a horror oneshot named Train Station. It's rated M, and does have mature content, so if you can't read that stuff just don't read it. If you can, then it would be great if you could give me some of your time and check it out.**

**Anyway, I've got to go sleep now since it's 8 AM and I haven't slept, please review and I hope you enjoyed!**

**~Charlie-the-Spider**


	7. Chapter 7

***Author's note at bottom (So sorry for the long wait).**

**Summary: Thirteen year old Nico finds himself lost amongst a dark forest, containing a fearful and sinister creature that will eventually drive him mad with insanity. Is it all just a dream? Or has a nightmare finally taken control over his life?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nico di Angelo or any of the PJO characters, neither do I own Slenderman or the PC game Slender, I do own Ms. Tamara, the school kids, and the much hated neighbors though.**

**Static**

Nico awoke as the cold seeped into his clothes and chilled his body. He shivered, tightening his clothes around his small body and looked around him with sleepy, blurry eyes, before realizing he had something crushed in his hand. Looking down onto his hand -that was clenched quite tightly even in his sleep- he relaxed his palm and revealed the page he had picked up right before collapsing.

Gasping as the memories rushed back to him like a wave, the feeling of sheer terror consumed him yet again and he quickly got up, his weak legs buckling as they threatened to betray his weight but eventually they stood steady –or as steady as they could- and he looked about him again.

Breathing hard, Nico tried to catch a glimpse of what he had seen the earlier night, trying to find it, just so he could prove to himself that he wasn't going insane, but of course he couldn't find it, and that made him feel both relieved and terribly afraid.

Nico began to walk, trying to control his fear and misery, when he suddenly fell to the ground, crying for the first time since the day he got lost. He couldn't figure out what to do, where he was, what was happening, and he just wanted to _cry_. He tried to control his tears by remembering what his father always told him, _'Di Angelo's don't cry, di Angelo's go face to face with a problem and solve it, and if they cannot solve it, they still keep on trying'_.

"How can I solve this, dad?" He whispered softly, his misery turning into anger suddenly, "How can I solve this, huh?!" He shouted loudly, glaring up at the barely visible sky as his voice traveled through the lifeless forest. Sniffing, Nico finally gathered up just enough the strength to walk again, and this time he continued to walk despite his fatigue, turning around the cross walls he had spent the night at to study them for more pages.

As he thought about the pages, Nico frowned. They were misleading. The first one was a rescue note, as it clearly said 'HELP ME', but the second one –Nico shivered as he thought of it- the second one was clearly morbid.

Despite the fact that Nico was mostly terrified, a part of him, the part not controlled by fear, was furious. What kind of person thought this was funny? What kind of sick joke was this? Was it entertaining to watch a kid walk around in a forest far away from home? Was it entertaining to watch _him_ slowly lose his sanity?

Pausing, Nico mulled over what he had just thought. Was he really losing his sanity?

_'No, it can't be,'_ He thought to himself and continued walking, trying to brush off the thought but unable to stop bringing it back to the front of his mind. What if this was what that thing wanted exactly? What if it wanted to break him, to crush his soul, to watch him bring about his own death? What if the misleading pages were misleading simply to conflict him? It was all possible, he reasoned as he left the cross walls, walking upon the path with a distracted mind.

Nico kept on thinking about his newly found explanations for a while, but even with the explanations to what was happening, his heart was still beating quickly –quicker than ever before- his palms were sweaty, and his breathing was shallow and uneven. Just before the cross walls faded out of site, Nico paused, remembering he had found a flashlight the previous night, just before that creature had appeared, and he looked down into his hands, cursing.

"No, no, no I can't lose it," He muttered to himself, also remembering the bag that he had taken, which he had dropped while running. Did he drop the flashlight with it? No, Nico shook his head; he remembered holding it in his hand.

Sighing, he turned back and walked the whole way back to the cross walls, unaware of the fact that he was humming a lullaby from when his mother used to tuck him in as he reached his destination, finding the flashlight and trying the switch multiple times, grinning as he assured himself it was working, and then continued his way down the path.

At least now he could spot things easily, or so he thought.

* * *

"Where were you guys camping?" Maria asked as she drove near the area, her heart skipping five beats at a time as she came closer and closer to where her son had gotten lost.

"Somewhere near here- oh, take that left turn," Ms. Tamara pointed at the road leading up to one part of the forest and Maria quickly obliged, turning it and reaching the clearing the school children had camped at before the whole storm had happened.

Slowly driving towards a point and pulling up, Maria found her hands shaking, though from fear or excitement she didn't know. Now that she was here, and now that she could see how vast the forest was, she wasn't sure how they could search at all. The area wasn't small at all, and with only three of them Nico could be anywhere and they wouldn't even come close to him.

"Hey," Maria felt a hand onto her shoulder and she turned to look at her son's teacher, who was smiling gently at her, "We'll find him, I promise," She smiled at her and Maria found herself smiling softly before nodding, pulling her car keys out and opening her door before stepping out,

"Well what are you waiting for? Let's start looking!" She smiled as confidently as she could at the two and watched them both step out hurriedly. Ms. Tamara's eyes were gleaming with determination, as if she was determined to right the wrong that she had done, and although Maria truly didn't blame her for all that happened, she was still both thankful and impressed by the woman's ability to take responsibility for the misplacement of her son.

Percy stepped out and sighed, and although she didn't comment on it nor point it out, Maria could see little tears forming at the edges of his eyes as he looked around the area, his whole face showing the worry he felt. She smiled sadly at that and was about to reach out to pat his shoulder when she thought better of it; he was a teenage boy, and she was pretty sure the last thing he wanted was to be comforted like a little kid.

"So where do we start?" He asked as all of them walked around the area, trying to look for anything that could lead them to Nico, but everything had been washed away by the storm. "There aren't any traces or something so he could have went anywhere,"

"Well not really," Ms. Tamara began as she paced, "If I remember right, Nico's tent was in that direction." She pointed at a spot up ahead to the far right, "So if he had gone in any direction, it would have been away from camp, which means he probably went that way," She pointed ahead of them and they all started walking there, mutual feelings of excitement and fear filling all of them, and right when they were about to enter the forest's borders, a voice reached them and stopped them in their pace,

"Now don't you rush it, Maria," Susan's –the neighbor's- voice reached them, amusement and fake disgust filled in it, "I guess they're right, the criminal does go back to the crime scene."

"What are you talkin-" Maria began as they all turned to face Susan, who had two cops and her own husband accompanying her,

"Don't play dumb, Maria. We all know you killed your son, why would you be here looking for him personally instead of letting the police handle it? And you have _her_ with you, wasn't she the one who lost him in the first place? Seems a bit suspicious," Susan said, smirking victoriously at Maria, who had her mouth open as she tried to look for words.

Switching her blurry vision –as her eyes were filling with tears suddenly- to Susan's husband, she saw him give her an apologetic look and suddenly anger sprang up in her, spreading like wild fire throughout her body,

"I did _not_ kill my son," She hissed dangerously at her neighbor, "And we're here looking for him because the police isn't doing shit about it!" She cursed, wincing as she realized she had done that in front of Percy.

"Cursing in front of the kid too, Maria? Isn't it enough that you dragged him into this whole mess? What do his parents think? Do the even know you've taken him?" Susan asked quickly, her mischievous smile never fading, reminding Percy of a cunning snake as he stepped forward, glaring at her,

"My dad knows and he's letting me do it because Nico's my friend! Why are you doing this? Nico never hurt you!" He shouted at her, standing steady – the way his father had told him to do when facing off enemies- and fighting off the urge to cry or kick her.

"Oh sweety, I never wanted that boy hurt, not at all, I loved Nico, it's just his mother over there killed him and I'm only stopping her from doing the same to you," Susan said in a fake motherly tone, and Percy made a note in his head that she was obviously an extremely horrible mother, which explained why her daughter had already lost her virginity even at the age of fourteen.

"She didn't kill Nico, that's the thing; nobody killed Nico, Nico's still alive and we need to find him!" Percy argued but he only received a chuckle from Susan,

"It's okay darling, moving on takes time." Susan smiled gently at him and he spit at her, making Maria gasp in surprise at his rude gesture but also slightly smirk.

"Hey, kid, enough of that. Maria di Angelo, will you kindly drive back home, and then you and Ms. Tamara could come to the police department for a little questioning?" One of the cops asked and Maria fought off the urge to argue, her shoulders sagging in defeat as she nodded gloomily and headed to her car, her tears already falling as she kept her hand on Percy's back to keep him walking, since he kept on turning back and trying to argue with them.

They all went inside her car, and as she backed up and was turning to go back, she made eye contact with Susan –her worst enemy at that precise moment- and she gave her the most chilling, most frightening look a mother could give to a person who had wronged her child before she drove off quickly, her grip on the steering wheel so tight her knuckles turned white.

None of them said anything during the whole ride back, as none of them had much spirit still in them to even look at the other, and all of them sat in their respective seats with tears falling and hearts heavy, but even then, Percy's eyes still had a little light in them, a little light that said he was still going to try, and he was still planning on getting his friend back. That light was determination.

* * *

Maria climbed up the stairs as she fought off a sob, not even bothering to announce her arrival as all her sadness rushed at once. Throwing herself on the bed she shared with her husband, she moaned loudly in sorrow, clutching the sheets in her clenched fist as she cried out her son's name.

Hades quickly followed her –as he had noticed her storming in- and before long he had her sobbing against his built chest, shushing her and calming her as he rubbed circles onto her small back. This continued for many minutes before Maria finally could draw a shaky breath without being interrupted by a sob or a moan. Hades held her slightly away and looked her in the eyes,

"What happened?" He asked and watched the water in her eyes fight to spill, but it never did as she seemed to have gathered herself together and began to explain to him what had happened once they had arrived.

"Wh-what if Nico is h-hurt- Hades?!" She gasped to him and he stroked her cheek, feeling a stab to his heart as he thought of that, "Why w-won't they l-look for my b-baby?"

"I don't know, I don't know." He answered truthfully as he hugged her again, brushing her dark hair away from her face before carrying on with rubbing circles into her back,

"Nico needs me," She whispered to him after a long silence and he held her tighter, closing his eyes before nodding softly, kissing her head,

"We'll find him, Maria. I promise we will." He said and his words were as true as his feelings. He tried to show that he was strong, but even he missed his son -he missed him greatly in fact- and he wanted him back, no matter what others thought.

"So what do we do now?" Maria asked in a muffled tone, her face still buried in the crook of his arm,

"Now," He said as he pulled her away yet again, brushing her tears away and kissing her lips as gently as he could, "We go to the police department and kick some ass," He grinned at her, his eyes lighting up as she laughed softly at that, and again he kissed her, both of them getting up, feeling much stronger and much more confident now that they were finally working as the team they had always been.

* * *

It was pitch black around him, but that was fine, Nico thought to himself, as he had the flashlight and he had it lighting up his path. As the day had developed, he had almost forgotten all the terror he was feeling since that incident, but now that night had set, he was feeling both watched and followed again.

Walking cautiously, Nico couldn't help but keep on checking behind him, whirling around as fast as he could and pointing the flashlight every which way for a few seconds before facing his previous direction and following it again. So far, he really hadn't seen anything, but deep inside he wondered whether he really wanted to see or not see. It was like a little conflict, a part of him wanted to be able to see what it felt, to be able to spot it and perhaps then outrun it, but another part of him dreaded meeting it and instead comforted itself with the fact that it hadn't run into that creature so far.

"Maybe you won't see it again," He whispered softly to himself –now accustomed to talking to himself whenever he felt the need to hear a voice, any voice- "Maybe you were just going a bit cray-cray." He chuckled at the word cray-cray, remembering his sister calling him that whenever he pulled a prank on her or started acting weird. His smile only lasted a few seconds before he shut off the memory, remembering that he had to focus on the current situation, which was to walk and keep watch.

Remembering that, he turned and walked backwards as he inspected the area, making sure nothing was following him, before his back bumped into something, making him jump up and cry out in fright.

Expecting the worst Nico turned around slowly, only to be met by what seemed to be the edge of a tunnel of some kind. Sighing in relief, Nico waited a few minutes to let his heart overcome the shock it had just received before he slowly entered the tunnel, inspecting its walls with his flashlight before noticing something on the wall.

Walking quickly, Nico approached it, discovering that it was yet another paper left behind. He shone his light directly on it, frowning as he read the single word written on it "FOLLOWS". It was written in a similar manner to the previous papers, but this one differed by having a drawing on it. It was a drawing of a man –or what seemed to be a man, Nico could never be sure now- standing right next to a tree. He studied it for quite a long time, distracted by the message and all the dread that suddenly filled him just by looking at it.

Nico's heart skipped a thousand beats as he realized that, in his distracted state, he had forgotten all about continuing to move and watching his back, and he quickly turned around without thinking, his flashlight falling upon the creature that he had met the earlier night standing just a few meters away.

Wanting to scream but finding himself unable to, Nico slowly began backing away, a screeching, hissing sound filling his ears as his vision started to cloud over with what looked like TV static, and the only thought in Nico's mind was the need to get away and make the torture stop before his feet grew weak, buckled, and he fell unconscious upon the ground.

**DAY FOUR.**

* * *

**Author's Note:**** Hello everybody, before anything I would like to apologize for the EXTREMELY long wait, I am so so sorry, I can't forgive myself but I've been way too busy with school, and then a lot of stuff has been happening that made me either too busy or put me in a mood not suitable for writing. Anyway, I could carry on apologizing but that will just waste your time and I already feel horrible for making you wait. First, nobody guessed why Slenderman showed up at Maria's house, which is slightly disappointing since I thought at least one person will get what I meant, but either way I won't let you know why. Try to keep it in mind, it is vital, and try to figure out why. Also, I know that usually a person dies after they get face to face with Slenderman, but in this story I decided to make it more like Amnesia (the video game) which is that he basically faints and starts having trouble thinking straight. I hope nobody minds that I did that, it just makes more sense to me.**

**Before I go, I'd like to ask you what you'd like me to do to make up for all the time you waited. Do you want another chapter by the end of this week as an apology gift? Or do you want me to update a few horror oneshots I have ready? I also have a new horror story, if that appeals to you? Anyway, I'd like each person to tell me what they want me to do and I'll do it, and again I am really sorry.**

**So anyway, please review and let me know what you think, and I'll see you soon!**

**~Charlie-the-Spider**


	8. Chapter 8

***A/N at the bottom, sorry for the long wait!***

**Summary: Thirteen year old Nico finds himself lost amongst a dark forest, containing a fearful and sinister creature that will eventually drive him mad with insanity. Is it all just a dream? Or has a nightmare finally taken control over his life?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nico di Angelo or any of the PJO characters, neither do I own Slenderman or the PC game Slender, I do own Ms. Tamara, the school kids, and the much hated neighbors though.**

**Creepy Crawly**

Percy woke up the next morning with the same dreadful feeling as the night before, perhaps even a little worse than the previous one. He ran his hand through his hair and noted how sweaty it was, although he couldn't remember seeing a nightmare, in fact, he couldn't remember seeing anything at all, which bothered him even more.

Groaning, he got out of bed, his feet touching the cold floorboards as he stood up sleepily, scratching his butt through his pants as he walked towards the doorway, walking out and starting to make his way downstairs as his brain regained all the memories of the previous day. After they had returned to their neighborhood, Maria asked him to go home and not follow her as she and Nico's teacher headed to the police station, and without waiting for his argument she had dropped him off in front of the house. Percy, of course, didn't listen, and almost followed her before he changed his mind and went to his and Nico's spot instead. Their spot wasn't all that special, neither was it that much of a secret. Actually, a lot of people saw it but not many people went to it; they had no reason to.

It was an old, abandoned building a few blocks away from their neighborhood that nobody cared to fix or demolish. In fact, nobody noticed it at all, which suited the two of them just fine. They headed to that place whenever they were tired of being around people, and that was why Percy was heading there as well. He reached it eventually, went up to the roof and sat down on the edge, watching passersby as they tended to their own business, none of them noticing that kid sitting a few meters above, with salty tears making their way down his face and pain travelling through his soul as he thought of how unfair the world was being towards him and his best friend.

He sat there for hours, until the sun sank down, the stars shone in the sky, and mostly everybody returned to their respective homes and families. His phone was ringing off as he made his way down the creaky stairs and out into the street. He decided to ignore it as he walked back as slowly as he wanted to. There wasn't anything to rush back to either way; his best friend wasn't there to complain to him about how he'd been waiting all day for him to get his ass home so they could play video games and watch cheesy horror movies while eating all that was edible until their stomachs hurt.

Percy had eventually reached his house, then heard a seemingly never-ending lecture from his father about going out without letting them know as he ate his dinner, before he excused himself, went upstairs and simply put himself in bed, staring at the ceiling until he fell asleep.

"Percy, sweety? Are you listening?" His mother asked as she placed a bowl of cereal in front of him on the counter, snapping him out of his own little world.

"Um- yeah, sure," He answered hurriedly as he watched her pour milk into it, grabbing the spoon and starting to eat.

"So what do you say then?" She asked as she placed the milk carton back in the fridge and started to make coffee,

"Say about what?" He asked with a mouthful of cereal in his mouth, trying to chew it as efficiently as possible as his mother rolled her eyes.

"Are you gonna do it or not?" She asked again,

"Um- sure, why not?" He replied as he finally swallowed, smiling up at her uncertainly as she placed two cups of coffee on the counter, his father walking into the kitchen and kissing his mother before sitting down,

"Can you not- guys, please," He scrunched up his nose, making them both laugh,

"What, do you still need me to explain the birds and bees to you, son?" Poseidon chuckled as he watched Percy's face turn red,

"No- but I mean, aren't married people supposed to not wanna do stuff together or something?" He asked, making them both laugh as they sipped from their cups.

"Alright no more kisses in front of you," Sally smiled softly as she ruffled his hair, "So Poseidon guess what?"

"What?" Poseidon replied, not really bothering to guess since he'd never get the right answer anyway,

"Percy agreed to go out with Rachel, Mr. Dare's daughter?" She reminded him, grinning widely as both men turned looked at her,

"Wait, what?" Percy asked in confusion, "When did that happen?" He frowned at his mother, who frowned back,

"Just now, you said you'll do it, don't back out now, Percy, it's just one date honey,"

"I did? Oh- shit," He said as he remembered agreeing to do what she wanted without asking what she really wanted. He regretted that now.

"Come on, Percy, it's just one date, how bad can it go?" Poseidon chuckled at him, an amused gleam in his eyes as he watched his son cross his arms and roll his eyes,

"_Really_ bad! Dad she's Rachel Dare, she's like, _weird_." He emphasized and his mother laughed,

"Well I don't care, you gave me your word and now you're going whether you want to or not." She said and chuckled as he groaned, kissing his head and wrinkling her nose, "Go take a shower you smell awful,"

"But Mom, my smell reflects my _personality_," He complained and she smacked his head, making him laugh, "Alright, alright I'm going," He sighed and got up, making his way out of the kitchen and upstairs again, taking a towel and walking into the bathroom. Starting the shower, he stripped down his clothing, stepped under the stream of water, and sunk into his thoughts once again.

* * *

Susan's husband, George, sat down at the kitchen table that morning, sipping from his coffee as he straightened the newspaper and began to read, trying to ignore the picture of the young Nico di Angelo on the upper corner of the newspaper.

"Good morning," Susan said brightly as she entered, taking the gloves she was using to tend to her flowers outside off and placing them on the kitchen counter, before turning to the sink and starting to wash her hands, "Would you like to have breakfast?" She asked, waiting for her husband's reply but never receiving one.

Frowning, she turned and smiled, "George? I said-"

"I know what you said, I don't want any breakfast," He snapped at her, glaring at her from the top of the newspaper before going back to reading an article about how to maintain a balanced cholesterol level, completely ignoring her as she walked closer until she was standing behind the seat opposite from his,

"Are you still angry about what happened yesterday?" She sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes at her husband as she started to place pancakes in his plate, sliding it towards him,

"Yes I am- and I said I don't want any, god dammit," He pushed it back towards her, placing the newspaper on the table and glaring up at her again,

"For god's sake, George, are you really on that woman's side?!"

"What side?! Susan, what the hell is wrong with you? There are no sides! The woman lost her son and all you're doing is making her life hell!" George replied angrily, standing up and taking his cup to the sink, Susan whirling around to face him,

"I'm not making her life hell, I'm helping her accept the fact that her son is _dead_," She replied defensively, trying to grab her husband's arm, who in turn simply moved further away.

"Well how about you do her a favor and _mind your own business_!" He shouted.

"Why do you love her more than me?" Susan whispered and her husband groaned, rolling his eyes at her pathetic act,

"Oh for god's sake, Susan, don't you dare start this now. You're getting way out of control and if you're not going to put a stop to this, I will." George said, leaving the kitchen to grab his coat and shoes from the closet near the front door, starting to put them on.

"George!" Susan shouted as she started to make her way towards him, her daughter's voice interrupting her journey,

"For god's sakes can you guys last one, _just_ one morning without fighting?" She groaned as she finished her way down and made her way to the kitchen, sighing in boredom as she grabbed the cereal box and started eating directly from it.

"Thanks to your mother, I don't think that's _possible_," Her father called out and she smirked, shaking her head as she placed the box down and walked back towards them,

"Why do you always make it seem like _I'm_ the bad guy?" Susan asked, pretending to be hurt as both of them looked at her with indifferent eyes,

"Really, Mom? Do I have to answer that?" Her daughter asked before she rolled her eyes, moving past her, "Come on dad I'm gonna be late for school again," She said dully as she opened the front door and left through it, letting it close behind her as her father looked back at her mother,

"Please, Susan, do the right thing?" He asked softly, his eyes pleading. Susan nodded eventually, wrapping her arms against her chest and looking down. Smiling, he moved closer, kissed her forehead, and bid her goodbye before finally shutting the door.

Susan stayed rooted to that spot for a few seconds before she groaned and turned back to kitchen, rolling her eyes as she emptied his plate and took it to the sink,

"I _am_ doing the right thing, idiot." She muttered to herself as she continued to clean, peering out of her window to watch the di Angelo estate, humming happily as if nothing was ever wrong in the world.

* * *

Nico was still feeling weak and ill as he walked around that morning, not much energy left in his body to allow full functioning, which was why he was dragging himself rather than walking steadily, and why he wasn't completely freaking out about the previous night. The paper from the previous night was still crushed in his right hand as the flashlight was in the left, and every now and then he glanced at the paper, studying its contents before crushing it once again. He had been this close to death that night; he knew that since the creature was barely a meter away, if not less, and even after he fainted his mind was somehow aware of the presence close to him.

What Nico truly didn't understand was why the creature hadn't killed him back then, he was _unconscious_, which made him the most vulnerable prey there was, and still he woke up the following morning with the same health, save for some obvious lack of energy. He tried to figure out the reason why the creature left him alive as he was walking, but soon he found himself not that interested in finding out, and instead he let go of the thought, his more primary instincts pushing themselves to the front of his mind, which were the feelings of both thirst and hunger. God was Nico thirsty. His body quickly losing its reserve of water; his lips were already getting chapped, and he was hardly urinating anymore. He knew he had to find something pretty soon or his body would collapse, but so far he hadn't found anything useful, so he had to bear with it.

Nico's pace started to slow as he heard rustling once again, and slowly, _very_ slowly, he turned around, only catching a hint of a shadow among the trees that he had just passed. He remained in that position for a moment or two before he turned back to the path he was taking, making his way around in the trees once again, his head turning back to see if he's being followed every now and then.

Nico was trying to calm his nerves when he reached a sudden clearing in the midst of all the trees. The clearing had a group of cut woods standing uprght in the middle of it, each one towering just a little above his head. Raising an eyebrow, he walked forward, deciding to search the place for any clues before a soft buzz began to play in his ears and he felt a presence behind his back. His breath hitched as he turned back, gasping as he saw the creature standing behind one of the trees a few meters away from the clearing, and quickly, he turned back to the clearing and ran amongst the cut woods, trying to make the static go as the creature got closer and closer.

Looking around wildly, Nico found another paper stuck to one of the cut trunks and he quickly snatched it, breathing heavily as he read what was written. His eyes widening in realization at the message -which read 'DON'T LOOK… OR IT TAKES YOU' with what seemed to be a stickman drawn messily next to it- he gulped and crushed it in his hand, not turning back to face the creature as the buzzing returned and simply taking off in another direction, his feet carrying him as far as possible from that spot. His brain was still running wildly as he ran, repeating the message the paper sent inside his head again and again, a small part of him wondering why this paper had given him what seemed like advice this time.

* * *

Percy sighed as he took his usual spot in the classroom -the seat beside the window- and he quickly got his biology textbook out before sitting back and sighing once again. His brain was running too fast today and it was giving him a massive headache, and to top that he had taken two pop quizzes –and failed both, of course- and had to step up to the chalkboard and try to solve an equation in math class, which ended with the teacher giving him a lecture about how he wouldn't be able to graduate from school if he stayed that careless about studying. Of course, he also still had to go out with Rachel Elizabeth Dare after school.

Groaning, he placed his head on the desk in front of him, shutting his eyes tightly as he tried to imagine he was somewhere else, in another time, where nobody told him what to do and when to do it, when somebody threw a paper at him.

Looking up, Percy grabbed the paper and looked around, trying to locate the sender until he noticed Annabeth Chase looking at him. He flashed her a quick smile and she returned it, before he looked down at the paper and unfolded it.

_'You okay?' _the paper read and he smiled. Annabeth was from his oldest friends, along with Grover. The two of them had been Percy's friends since they were in first grade, and if anybody could ever notice his foul mood it was them.

_'I'm fine, just tired. Don't worry.'_ He wrote on the other side of the paper, crumbling it and watching the teacher carefully. He waited for her to turn her back to the chalkboard before he quickly threw the paper to Annabeth, who took it from her desk and crushed it in her hand in turn. He watched her read it before she turned back and rolled her eyes at him, -obviously not buying what he had written- stuffing the paper in her pocket and shaking her head, her blonde curls bouncing about before settling back in their original positions.

Percy vaguely wondered how girls could handle having so much hair on their heads, he personally liked it when his hair was short, it didn't itch and didn't get in his eyes, but he also liked Nico's hair, which was a bit longer and got in his best friend's eyes most of the time, if not always. Then an image of Nico with long, blonde hair sprang in his head and he snorted, chuckling to himself before sobering up again, feeling his heart sting as he imagined Nico glaring at him in his usual way.

He looked outside, watching the younger kids walk around the schoolyard as it was their lunch break. He wished he was out there right now, he hated being in classrooms; they were too stuffy, too crowded, and the teachers never stopped talking or writing on the chalkboard, which only made Percy's head hurt even worse. He looked back down at the page they were currently on in his textbook. It had a picture of some sort of skin disease that he couldn't care less about, and he grabbed his pen and started to doodle over the picture, drawing little circles and shapes that didn't really resemble anything when the teacher cleared her throat, making him look up.

"Percy Jackson, are you not interested in the lesson we're taking?" She asked, raising an eyebrow that didn't really change much in her placid expression. God, Percy hated this teacher. She was too strict and too dull, and all she ever did was talk about biology stuff or make her students feel dumb.

"Erm- do you want the truth, or?" He asked unsurely, making the other kids snicker as the teacher's eyes grew a bit darker.

"Are you trying to be funny, Mr. Jackson? Because if that's the case, you can go and perform your little comedy show in the principal's office."

"But I didn't do anything!" He argued, frowning at her in confusion. That was another thing he hated about teachers, they did things that didn't even make sense.

"You weren't paying attention in class, and you were making fun of your teacher, do these sound to you like things a good student would do?" She asked, not waiting for his reply, "Go to the principal and tell him you were behaving badly in class."

"But-"

"Now, Mr. Jackson," She cut him off strictly, pointing at the door as he sighed, gathered his belongings, and quickly left the classroom.

"I swear to god, she hates me," He muttered angrily to himself as he made his way to the principal's office, glaring at the floor he was walking on as his hands shook angrily. Upon reaching the door of the office, he knocked, hearing a "Come in" from inside before opening it.

"Hello, is there anything you need?" The principal's secretary asked with a forced smile as she ended a phone call, watching him with big eyes that were caked with eye-shadow and other make up products.

"My teacher sent me to the principal," He explained to her, sighing exasperatedly as he never truly understood why the principal needed a secretary; he didn't get anybody in his office except for students. He watched her open the phone, press the little button with number 1 on it and ask the principal whether Percy could enter or not, before she shut the phone and nodded at him.

"Go ahead he's not busy," She smiled and he nodded back, walking lazily towards the door leading to the principal's office and walking in.

"Hey, Mr. Chiron," He said as he walked towards the chair and sat down. Chiron looked up and sighed tiredly, taking off his glasses.

"Percy. What now?" He asked, smiling as the boy smiled sheepishly,

"Um, I was zoning out in class," He said and watched Chiron laugh, smiling at him.

"You really should stop doing that in classes, young man," He said and watched Percy shrug,

"I mean, it's not my fault they're never interesting," He replied,

"Oh? Well what do you think makes a class interesting, Percy?"

"I don't know, excitement, new shit, I mean we're always taking the same thing in school, and if it's not the same thing, they teach it to us in the same way. It gets really boring," He smiled at the principal, who chuckled.

"Well said," Chiron said as he held eye contact with the boy for a while before sighing, "Well, you can leave. I won't give you detention; I know there's too much on your mind lately. But try to focus in class next time, as much as I love seeing you, I'm not very fond of this daily visit to my office," He smiled and Percy grinned as he got up quickly,

"Thanks, Mr. Chiron, you're the man!" He said as he quickly made his exit, making his way to his last class.

* * *

"Perce! Over here, man!" Percy heard Grover call as he exited the school's double doors, the school day finally , and he quickly made his way towards him and their other friends,

"What's up?" He asked as he approached the group, accepting a fist bump from Grover and a hug from Annabeth,

"Does anything have to be up for us to talk to you now, Percy?" Annabeth smirked and he rolled his eyes,

"Yeah man, you haven't hung out with us in ages. I thought we were meant to be man," Grover joked and Percy punched his arm lightly, laughing along with the boy,

"Sorry man, I've been a bit caught up with all that's happening," He said and Annabeth's smile turned into a warm one, nodding understandingly,

"Well, you know we're always here for you, right?" She asked and he nodded,

"Yeah, I know. Thanks guys, I don't know what I would do without you," He smiled gently before Grover slapped his head,

"Does that mean you still love me, Perce?" He asked and laughed as Percy slapped his head in return,

"You know it G-man," He smirked then noticed Rachel making her way towards them, waving awkwardly at her, "So I gotta go, I've got a date with Rachel." He explained, glaring at Grover as he heard him snort,

"Rachel? Wow man, you really are losing it," Grover laughed,

"Come on, she's not so bad,"

"Dude, _she's a vegetarian_." He emphasized on vegetarian, earning a slap on the head from Annabeth, who was actually a vegetarian herself. "What?" He asked in false innocence and she sighed, shaking her head,

"Just go, Percy," She smiled at him and pushed him towards the redhead girl,

"See ya!" He said as he turned to grin at Rachel, walking with her outside of the school, "Hey,"

"Hey," She smiled at him as they walked side by side, declining his offer to carry her bag for her. There were a few minutes of silence as both of them flashed each other awkward smiles, until she finally broke the silence, "So where are we going to go?" She asked, watching Percy sigh in relief as the tension loosened once again,

"I'm not sure, we could grab some food then go watch a movie or something," He suggested, smiling politely at her.

"We could do that," She said then smirked, "_Or_ we could go grab something to eat then go back to your house and play video games?" She asked, watching him look at her in surprise,

"You play video games?" He asked in disbelief. She was probably the first girl he'd met who played video games.

"Who doesn't?" She asked and grinned, "Besides, we both don't want this to be a date, so why not just hang out and do shit we actually wanna do?" Percy laughed at her and shook his head, smirking at her,

"Maybe you're cool after all," He grinned as she snorted,

"Darling, I'm not just cool, I'm freaking awesome," She bragged, making Percy laugh louder than he had in days as they made their way into a restaurant.

* * *

It was starting to get dark, Nico noted as he dragged his sore feet across the ground. He was amongst the trees, and every now and then his flashlight flickered, threatening to turn off completely, which made his heart jump in fear every time. He sighed tiredly, looking around his surroundings with heavy eyes as he yawned before suddenly stumbling on a rock and falling on the ground, his head hitting a root that had grown above the ground through the years.

Groaning, he rubbed his head and sat up, biting his lip as the injured spot throbbed with pain. He heard a small whine escape his own lips as he waited for the pain to subside, but he hardly had any power to care anymore. He truly didn't care about being strong anymore, or even being spotted by that creature anymore, and all he really wanted was to hug his mother again and sleep in his own bed again.

Nico turned his head to the side, resting it on the trunk behind him as he hummed softly to himself, shutting the flashlight, closing his eyes and trying to imagine himself back at home and not in this damned forest that didn't have any hint of life in it. He squeezed his eyes tight; trying with all his will, and soon the blackness behind his lidded eyes swam and turned into bright colors, which in turn settled into the picture of his house, and a little after that Nico di Angelo was fast asleep.

He had been asleep for four, maybe five hours, when his dreams took a darker turn, and he found himself in the same forest he was currently sleeping in. Frowning in his dream, he tried to walk, but couldn't move. His eyes widened as they looked around, watching several kids make their way amongst the trees and towards him. He frowned even deeper and tried to move his feet, trying to back away from the children, but they wouldn't budge.

He felt his heart rate quicken as they got closer and closer, until one girl with dirtied blonde hair touched his face slowly, sliding her bloody fingers down his cheek and staining it in turn. He whimpered and tried to move away, several other children starting to grab him from all other places, whispering, soft, unintelligible words to him as each made their mark on him, until he felt fear run down his spine and he screamed loudly, his feet finally moving, and he sprang to consciousness once again.

He took a deep breath as he raised himself off the ground by the tree, gasping for air as he looked around blindly in the dark. His heart was beating so fast it would have jumped right out of his chest if it could, and he quickly placed his hand on it, feeling the quick _'ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump'_ as he wiped the sweat off his face with the other hand. He waited for his breathing and heart to slow before he relaxed, resting his back against the tree trunk once again and rubbing his eyes tiredly.

He opened his eyes after he was done rubbing the sleep out of them, sighing as he thought back to the disturbing turn his dream had taken. Who had those kids been? And what had they wanted from him? They weren't so much as scary as disturbing, and for some reason they were all pulling on Nico's clothes, as if they were begging him for something, but what? He recalled hearing the word 'please' once or twice, but their speech had been far from clear, and he hadn't made out any other words that could help him understand what they'd wanted from him.

As Nico searched blindly for the flashlight with his hand, he realized something that made his stomach drop. These kids were all pale and bloody, and they were all in the same forest he currently was in. What if they were once lost kids, just like him?

He froze as he thought about that, his chest tightening from fear as he remembered the blonde girl stain his cheek and he unconsciously moved his hand to said cheek, checking to see whether the blood was still there, sighing in relief as he found that it wasn't.

His hand finally found the flashlight and he quickly turned it on, flashing it around him and making sure the creature wasn't near before settling back. He was about to turn the flashlight off when he noticed a tickling on his wrist, and he shone it on the spot, smiling as he saw a little glowworm make its way up his arm. He kept on watching it for what seemed like forever, his smile never fading as he felt less lonely in that horrible place, and soon he found himself whispering little things to the glowworm, and later he was full on making a conversation with a bug that couldn't speak, momentarily forgetting all about his disturbing dream as the bug brought him some hope, and anxiously waiting for the light of day to return so he could continue his march.

**DAY FIVE.**

* * *

**Hey guys! So first of all, I'm very sorry this took so long, school took up so much of my time my life literally consisted of studying only. My summer break just started, so let's hope my updates would be a bit faster now. Second of all, I noticed this chapter contained more Percy than anything else. Um.. Sorry. I really didn't notice until I was halfway through, and then I figured it doesn't really harm anything, since 1) Percy is a primary character here and 2) It doesn't hurt to see what his life is like either. Still, expect stuff like this, sometimes the chapters may contain more Nico than other stuff, and other times it's the other way around, I'm just trying to balance the two sides of this story so they'd make sense.**

**Third of all, if you noticed the pace is starting to get quicker, you're correct. I'm wrapping it up faster because this sort of story can get dull pretty quickly, and I don't want that to happen. Don't ask me if it means this is ending soon, I don't plan ahead chapters, but just know we still have chapters ahead of us.**

**Fourth of all, I want to explain a few things I thought I should explain. Nico and Percy aren't in love or anything like that. I know, it sucks for people who ship these two as hard as I do, but I'm trying to keep this sensible. They're not really old enough to acknowledge such feelings, so I won't make this all messy. Basically Percy's about 14 years old, which explains why he's going on a date with Rachel, and Nico's still 13, or almost 13. I know sometimes they seem too attached and they think about each other a lot, but for those who are bothered by the ship, just think of it as a very close friendship, the weird kind where you're not sure whether they are attracted or not, and for people who like the ship, well, I'll leave it all to your imagination.  
****While I said that, this doesn't mean I'm putting Percy with Annabeth or Rachel or anybody else in this story. I'm sorry, but I'm actually trying to keep relationships away from this one because its primary genre is horror, and I don't want it to get messy. But, the same goes to you guys, if you wanna ship them, I leave it all to your imagination, just don't expect any of that sort of thing in this story.**

**Gah this is getting long so I'll cut it short, the glowworm's presence is very interesting, and that dream is too, so if you'd like to suggest any of your ideas as to why they both happened, write it in your reviews, I really love knowing what you guys think. The last thing I wanna say is that I've updated another Horror/Thriller oneshot -count it as an apology gift for taking so long- but once again it's M rated and the main ship in it is Percy/Nico, so if you're into that go check it out, if not, I have some other works that don't have such ships coming up later.  
Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you read the whole A/N cause that was pretty long. Please review, I'd appreciate it so much!  
~Charlie-the-Spider**


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